Rise Again
by gandalf537
Summary: The curtains may have closed, but the story is far from over. They've fought for their show, their love, their lives...and they aren't done fighting yet. In order to continue to rise, they'll do whatever it takes. Lines will be crossed. Songs will be sung. Ships will be sailed. (Or, a possible season 2.) will be updated at some point in the foreseeable future
1. Episode 1: Reception

**As you probably know, Rise was cancelled after only a season. I was very, very upset. Immediately following the end of the last episode, I cycled through the five stages of grief, and then I started planning this- a possible season 2 of Rise. The chapters will probably be shorter than what a normal episode would be, but after this one I'll continue to update every Tuesday for a total of ten chapters so you can get that Rise fix you need.**

 **Thank you for reading, and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

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Episode 1: Reception

* * *

Tracey Wolfe wipes away the tears that are threatening to spill over her lashes. Despite a third of the audience leaving at various points throughout the performance, the seating area still looks full, especially with everyone on their feet. She looks over at Lou- they did good. Their kids did even better.

"Alright, everyone offstage," Lou says quietly, so only the cast will hear them. The audience begins to die down a bit, and she's grateful- she doesn't know how long she can stand up there under those bright lights before her eyes water enough to really make the tears fall.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Robbie asks, beaming at the crowd.

Tracey watches Lou's face fall- almost. He catches himself almost instantly. "No," he says quietly. "No, I-I'll say something on closing night." Tracey narrows her eyes as the audience begins chattering as they leave the theater and the cast begins to hustle offstage. She makes a mental note to bring _that_ up later. For now, she'll let the kids enjoy their stardom.

They make their way through the wings and down the hallways, approaching the lobby where those who came to see the show will be sticking around to talk to the actors, or maybe just to eat the food they set out. Tracey can't believe she wasn't going to come tonight. Despite her doubts- they did good. Really good. For now, she'll push aside any thoughts of the PTA and the superintendent and the principal and just enjoy it while it lasts.

"Robbie," Lilette whispers. "Robbie, I didn't get a chance to talk to your mom-"

"That's alright," Robbie says, grinning. "She's still here." Lilette smiles back. Of course, she loves Robbie's mother- but she also wants to avoid her own. Robbie entwines his fingers in hers as they continue to the lobby. As they enter there's a smattering of applause. Lilette's smile widens. She can see her mother at the back of the crowd, waiting with the man she brought in earlier- her mind flashes back to the box of chocolates sitting in the dressing room and she almost feels guilty as she goes for Robbie's parents first.

"Hey, mama," Robbie says, and Lilette stands back as Robbie greets his parents. She approaches when she's certain it's okay, as Robbie talks to his father and stepmother.

"Lilette!" Robbie's mother gasps. "Oh, you were so beautiful!"

"Thank you," Lilette says, going to kneel next to her wheelchair. "I'm glad you enjoyed the show." Robbie's mother beams.

"Of course I did," she says. "I'm glad I came to see you."

"I'm glad you came too," Lilette replies, her smile finally reaching her eyes. Robbie's mother finds her hand and squeezes it as Robbie turns back to talk to her. Lilette turns away as she catches the phrases "girlfriend" and "you looked in love." Her cheeks turn faintly pink as she suddenly faces Robbie's father.

"Hello, Mr. Thorne," she says quietly. She's entirely shocked when he smiles back at her. Robbie's stepmom also greets her warmly. She briefly wonders if something is wrong- did Robbie get in contact with them and tell them she was moving? Are they excited she's leaving so Robbie can focus on football?

"You and Robbie-" he starts, then chuckles and shakes his head. "You looked good up there, up on that stage. I know my son- that look on his face when he was- well, you know- that wasn't acting." _I sure hope not_ , Lilette thinks. "You did wonderful."

"Oh- uh, thank you," Lilette says, nodding. She's not entirely sure where he's going with this until he continues speaking, ignoring her gratitude- obviously he wasn't finished.

"Seeing you up there on that stage with each other… well, I can see how happy you make him. How happy everything you've done for him has made him." He pauses, and she straightens, nodding. "You're not holding him back at all, Lilette. You're pushing him forward." He's watching Robbie and his mother, who are talking softly to each other. Mr. Thorne gets a wistful smile on his face. "Thank you for making my boy happy."  
"I hope I can continue to make him happy," Lilette blurts out. He doesn't know. He doesn't know that she's about to leave, and then she'll just let him down. She'll let everyone down. Mr. Thorne smiles at her.

"I hope so, too," he says, nodding. "Excellent performance- excuse me, I see Coach Strickland…" He wanders off, Robbie's stepmother saying something about punch as she holds a bouquet of flowers and follows him. Lilette turns back to the other two and is sucked into their quiet conversation in the middle of a loud crowd of people.

"I told you he doesn't hate you," Robbie says quietly, and takes her hand again. She smiles as Robbie's mother gets a knowing look in her eyes. Lilette glances up just in time to see her mother waiting, watching. Lilette gulps and squeezes Robbie's hand. He smiles and her, his eyes telling her to stay- she can talk to her mother on the car ride home.

Not all is quite as well elsewhere. Sasha trails after Michael awkwardly as he searches for his parents. Her father didn't bother to show up- he never does- but she likes Michael's parents well enough. She stands back as they hug him and hand him flowers and tell him how proud they are, and she's completely shocked when Mrs. Hallowell hands her flowers as well.

"Of course, we'd never forget about our Sasha!" Mrs. Hallowell gushes, beaming. Sasha cautiously smiles back, a bit overwhelmed. Michael's parents continue to talk about how amazing the performance was for a few more minutes while the two students stand there, not really sure what to say. Sasha glances over at Michael and offers a slight smile, and Michael offers one of the same.

"-but of course, you probably want to go backstage and talk with your friends!" Mrs. Hallowell finishes loudly. "Well, I'll leave you to it! Do you need a ride home, Sasha?"

"No, I'm good," Sasha says quietly. "I have my car."

Mrs. Hallowell beams and Mr. Hallowell smiles as they head off to talk to someone else's parents. Michael rubs the back of his head. They step toward each other hesitantly when someone else dive-bombs them- Annabelle and Jolene.

"We're gonna go get some cookies, yeah?" Jolene says, grinning and carting the two off toward the refreshment table. "Free for cast and crew!"

She tugs them right past Mr. Mazzucchelli's family- Michael smiles at them, because they'd all been around at one point or another. He waves to Maashous, who's standing awkwardly next to Mr. Mazzu's older daughter in a suit and tie. Maashous waves back before turning back to Kaitlin.

"So," she says quietly. "First night at your mom's tonight?"

"Yeah," he says quietly. "Yeah." He doesn't understand why it had to be tonight of all nights- but he wondered maybe if she'd come see the show tomorrow. Not the last performance, because that's generally when they all go out somewhere for drinks until it's late at night and they can all laugh about how amazing their show was. Maybe she'd come to the matinee, see what he's been doing while she's been gone, get to know her son through his lighting. _Is that how mothers work?_ He wonders to himself briefly.

"Text me if anything happens, alright?" Kaitlin says, oblivious to his current thought process, her eyes filled with worry. He smiles- she's like a little sister now, always being there and not caring that he was living in her house. He'll be sad to not be around her anymore. He reminds himself that she'll be in the drama program next year- then reminds himself again that _he_ might not be in the drama program next year. All her talk of being in the show while he was running the lights and now it might now even happen- no. He can't think about that. He'll be back. He has to be.

"Of course," he says, nodding.

"It was an amazing show," Sadie is saying excitedly on Kaitlin's other side, tugging on Gordy's sleeve. "What did you do? Did you build stuff?" She pokes the back of his shirt, reading 'stage crew' in white letters.

"No," Gordy says, smiling at his little sister. She narrows her eyes- isn't this the entire point of 'stage crew'?

"Did you paint stuff?"  
"No."

"Did you sing?"

"Sadie, _no_."

"Then, what did you do?" Sadie asks, her nose wrinkling.

"I dunno," Gordy says, trying to brush her off. "I just helped out, I guess."

"Are you gonna do it for the next show?" Sadie demands.

" _Yes_ ," Gordy stresses as she jumps on his shoulder. "God, Sadie, get off… oh, hey, Gwen." He smiles as Sadie lands hard on the ground. The girl glares up at Gwen, whose arms are crossed. Gwen raises an eyebrow at Gordy, who in turn just nods down to Sadie with a 'go along with it' face.

"Are you his girlfriend?" Sadie demands after a solid six seconds of thinking. Gordy goes beet red as Gwen rolls her eyes.

"I'm not," Gwen says to his little sister, not unkindly. "Hey, Gordy."

"Not yet," Gordy mutters out of the corner of his mouth to Sadie, who grins. "Go talk to Mom." The girl rushes off to go find their mother as Gordy turns back to Gwen.

"So, you're sticking around, then?" Gwen asks, nodding to where Sadie was just standing. "Is this the next phase in your stalker plan?"  
" _Yes_ ," Gordy says sarcastically, mimicking her posture. "Most definitely." He relaxes a bit. "You did… amazing, tonight." She smiles, shrugging.

"Thanks," she says quietly. "That's what my mom said."

"And… your dad?" he asks cautiously.

"Dunno," she replies. "Didn't talk to him yet. Kinda avoiding that conversation for as long as possible." They stand in silence for a while, watching the other actors. Gordy spies his mother talking to Mrs. Strickland- that can't be a good conversation, especially with Sadie close by. They both turn to each other to talk at the same time, then laugh the same breathy laugh. Gwen gestures for Gordy to go first.

"Punch," Gordy blurts out, not certain what else he was going to say. He's just caught Coach Strickland watching the two from across the lobby- he's a dead man the next time he goes to practice. He jabs his thumb back toward the refreshment table. "I was just gonna go get some, do you want any?" She laughs again.

"Sure," she says.

"Great," he says, nodding quickly before backtracking away. It seems that most of the cast is gathering around the food- not that he's entirely surprised. There are still a few missing, however.

Simon wanders around when he enters the lobby, not really wanting to run into anyone. He knows his father is gone, because he saw the empty seat, but his mother and Emma probably stuck around. He realizes after a good few minutes that he should definitely go talk to him. His mind is racing with a constant _what will they think, what will they think, what will they think_. He knows his father's answer- but his mother's?

He doesn't need to worry. Not at all. The moment she sees him, his sister gives a laugh of joy and runs to hug him.

"You did so good!" she exclaims, beaming up at him before pulling away. His mother is right behind her, and he's shocked when she grabs his face and presses a kiss to his forward.

"I am _so_ proud of you," she says, her eyes brimming with emotion, and Simon almost cries. Emma begins talking about all the parts she loved, all of them centric on either himself or Lilette. He scans the crowd for her, pretty sure she's still with Robbie, and his gaze falls briefly on Jeremy. The other boy is looking the other way, and Simon hastily focuses on Emma again.

"I don't know what Dad thought," Emma says suddenly, sadly, before brightening and continuing with her list of her favorite things. His mother watches, but Simon thinks, about what's going to happen when he gets home. He'll have to avoid his father… but for how long? How long can Simon keep denying the unavoidable, how long until he snaps and his father, what, kicks him out of the house? He supposes he could always move in with Lilette…

Speaking of, his best friend approaches quickly. She hugs Emma and Simon's mother, then rests an arm around his shoulder, talking with Emma about the show as if she's one of their family. Simon allows his gaze to dart around again, ghosting over Annabelle somewhat guiltily before landing on Jeremy once more. Lilette glances up and sees him staring, then nudges his hip with her own. He blushes faintly and looks at her to see a knowing look in her eyes. He gulps and starts making his excuses to his mother, telling her he'll see them at the car and giving Emma one last hug before carting Lilette off to the refreshment table where it seems all of the cast has gathered.

"Ms. Wolfe!" someone cries as their assistant director approaches. They hound around her, now able to loudly exclaim their excitement that she came. She's followed closely by Principal Ward who, to their immense shock, is _smiling_.

"An excellent show!" he announces loudly to the students before heading off toward the parking lot. There's silence amongst them, then they all start talking at once. If Principal Ward was proud, and not saying anything about the fact that they completely disobeyed him, then they must be okay. They talk for a while, all loud and over each other, before Ms. Wolfe tells them all they should get backstage and out of their costumes before someone spills something.

Little do they know, however, there is already something extremely important going on backstage. Gail Mazzucchelli watches as Kaitlin waves goodbye to Maashous as he and Gordy go with the rest of the cast. She's glimpsed her husband once since the show ended, and it was only for a moment or two as Lou caught the superintendent's arm and spoke to him for a minute. She had watched the two go back toward the backstage area, and Lou's office- which could never be a good sign.

"Thank you so much for coming back to meet with me," Lou says as soon as they make it into his office. "I'm sure you just want to get home-"  
"Not at all, not at all," the superintendent says, his posture indicating the exact opposite.

"I'll be brief," Lou says. "When you say you're- that this- this is the last show, you mean we still have our matinee and performance tomorrow, right? The last show in general, not the _last_ last show-"

"I mean the last last show," the superintendent says. "I'm sorry, Mr. Mazzucchelli. I can see how much you care for these kids. But that stunt you pulled tonight- I allowed it to go on because it was a wonderful thing for them, and for you. But for my district as a whole? No, this opening night is the closing night also, I'm afraid. For both this show and the theater program." Lou stares at the wall in shock- the superintendent doesn't seem to notice. A million things run through his head, most of them _fire me instead_ and _please not the kids_ , interjected by one quick _Tracey's gonna kill me_.

"Alright," Lou says in a small voice, rather than the things he's thinking. "I- thank you, for not shutting us down in the middle of our how."

The superintendent chuckles. "Oh, Principal Ward tried- went up to the lighting and tried to convince the young man running it to turn off the lights. Your Ms. Wolfe put an end to it." LOu smiles for a moment, then realizes she's going to double kill him. His face falls. "Excellent performance, Mr. Mazzucchelli," the superintendent finishes before exiting the office.

He walks through the doorway, waving as Tracey Wolfe enters, followed closely by the troupe of actors and crew kids. The students are excited, talking loudly about the following day's performance. Lou leans on the open doorway of his office, staring at the ground with a look of shock and incomprehension.

"What was all that about?" Tracey asks, waving a hand in front of Lou's face. "Hello? Lou? You in there?"

His head snaps up, manic eyes focusing on hers.

"I need to talk to you," he says, gesturing for her to get into his office and closing the door behind her. The actors don't notice, all heading off for the dressings room, expecting to change into their normal clothes, hang up their costumes, and gather around the piano, singing and waiting for instructions for the performances the following day.

None of them notice the look on Mr. Mazzu's face, and none of them notice Ms. Wolfe's face fall completely and he continues talking to her. They just continue on their way, pleased at the wonderful reception.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "My mother was imprisoned for a lot of things, none of them good." - "I don't want to leave you, or Stanton, but my mother… it's what's best for her." - "You kissed me for a reason. You grabbed my hand for a** _ **reason**_ **. What is it?" - "The superintendent...has decided to end the theater program."**


	2. Episode 2: The Aftermath

**Wow, guys! Thank you all so much for your support! I can't wait to get this one out. I reminded my friend that there was no new episode tonight and she nearly killed me, so I hope this is (maybe) enough to keep you all satisfied?**

 **A small note about the chapter: when I talk about distances I'm using the real town of New Stanton in Pennsylvania as a rough estimate.**

 **To a Guest reviewer: honestly my dumb brain was too busy trying to process the fact that they were getting shut down to realize what Maashous' message meant, so let's just pretend he decided to come back and hopefully the explanation in this chapter is good enough to cover it, eh? Thanks so much for reviewing! To the other Guest reviewer: Thank you so much! To maggie (Guest): Aw, thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying!**

 **And of course, thank you all for reading and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

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Episode 2: The Aftermath

* * *

"You're kidding," Tracey says. Her eyes are wide and she's certain this is some sort of joke.

"I'm not," Lou replies, shaking his head. "They're shutting us down for good. Said it would settle the controversy and handle budget cuts."

"Budget cuts my _ass_ ," Tracey says furiously. Lou blinks- he's never heard her sound this upset, and he's heard her pretty upset. "They don't give a damn about the budget, we're _theater_ , we've never had a budget. This is just to keep them safe from those parents that didn't like what we did." She leans back so she's leaning against the desk, facing out toward the kids. Lou sits down in front of the desk and runs a hand through his hair.

"Tracey, I _know_ that," Lou says. "I know they're just trying to cover themselves, and I know it's a horrible, selfish, evil thing to do-"

"We're going to fight it," Tracey says, turning toward him and slamming her hand down on his desk. She looks close to tears and as if she hasn't heard a word of what he just said. "We're going to fight this, Lou." Lou opens his mouth, then closes it. "I've put the world into this department, and I'm not about to lose it over… over…"

"My mistakes?" Lou offers quietly. Tracey's face softens.

"Our mistakes," she says. "What, they had no other solution other than shutting us down?" She leans back against the desk, staring out at the kids again. The night was going so well… and then this. They had to ruin it. Lou just shakes his head.

"I told him to fire me instead," he says. Tracey's eyes snap to his. "But he wouldn't listen. Said this was for the best." Tracey scoffs and her eyes turn to the kids outside, all smiles and laughs. She grows dangerously close to tears again.

"We've put everything into this," she says. "So have they."

"I know," Lou replies, his eyes also on the kids. "But they seemed to think this was the best solution…" He trails off into uncertainty. They all know it was far from the best solution.

"It's not," Tracey snarls. "They can fire you, they can fire me, they can fire the both of us, but they're not going to hurt those kids. We're going to _fight this_."

"I don't know if we can," Lou says. "What'll it get us other than out of a job? Then these kids won't have directors or a department. At least this way we can…"

"We can what?!" Tracey cries. "We can't do a damn thing without a department, we can't even use that theater. What's the point of having a theater if there's no drama department along with it? We _have_ to fight this- if not for us, then for them!" She gestures out to the kids again, and Lou sighs once more. Personally, he doesn't think fighting it is the best idea… if they go to the PTA, they're just reducing the chances of the drama department ever reforming, at least until long after their generation has retired. The PTA has probably seen enough of the angry director act to last a lifetime. He doesn't think they should fight it… but he knows they probably will anyways. Tracey is still staring at him with that look on her face, waiting for him to say something, to agree with her, to confirm that he's just as upset about this as she is. And he is. But he doesn't have much fight left in him right now.

"I know, Tracey," he says. "I know."

"It doesn't matter what you know, it matters what you do about it," she hisses. "So what are we gonna do, huh? Are we gonna tell them? Please tell me we at least have the shows tomorrow." She practically holds her breath as Lou turns to her with a pained expression on his face. She lets out a mirthless laugh.

"You're kidding," she says. "Opening night was closing night, too?"

Unable to speak, Lou just nods. Tracey covers her face with one hand. "I don't believe this," she says eventually. "We were doing something good, and they just…"

"The world wasn't ready, I guess," Lou says.

"Well, the world better get damn prepared," Tracey snarls. "Because Stanton Drama is coming at it full force. Now are you going to tell them, or am I?"

Lou looks out at the kids. He imagines their smiles being wiped off their faces at his words, the smiles caused by this beautiful thing they've worked so damn hard to create… he can't do that to them. He can't. But he doesn't want it to come from Tracey, either. It's his fault, so he should be the one to do it.

"I'll tell them," he says quietly, voicing this exact concern to her. "It was my mistake, doing the normal version-"

"Oh, I think they were going to shut us down either way," Tracey says. Despite the loathing in her voice, Lou can't deny that her words are probably correct. "But I'm sure your mistake made them feel a little less guilty about it. We should tell them now, before they start leaving… so they know not to come back." Her voice drops pathetically at this last statement, and it's enough to make Lou's heart shatter.

Outside, Gordy can't hear the words they're saying, but he can recognize the look on his father's face well enough. Disappointment, pain, maybe even a little bit of fear. He's had that look directed at him more than enough times.

"Parent troubles?" Maashous asks from next to him, where the two are sitting on the piano bench. They're waiting for the rest of the cast and crew to get out of the dressing rooms- they've all been figuring the directors will have something to say to them about the next day before they all leave, so people are just sitting around before they head out for the night.

"I see I'm not the only one," Gordy says, tearing his eyes away from his father's office to nod at Maashous. "Kaitlin said you'd left."

Maashous shrugs. "I thought I'd left a proper goodbye, and then I just… couldn't go without another, I guess." Gordy smirks.

"Or are you just nervous to go to your mom's place?" he asks. Masshous's face falls. "Shit, that was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it?" His smirk changes to a look of concern. He still doesn't know what Mrs. Evers did, but he figures that if she's been away for this long it can't be good. He isn't about to say anything, however- he can let Maashous share for himself.

"My mother was imprisoned for a lot of things," Maashous says eventually in a small voice. "None of them good. Though I guess that's kind of obvious."

"I'd say so," Gordy replies, and he gets a light chuckle in return. He waits for Maashous to elaborate. They both startle as Ms. Wolfe slams her hand down on the desk- the noise is loud and even through the closed office door they can hear it. Both directors are looking furious and upset now. Gordy swallows something harsh- whatever they're talking about, it definitely isn't the show's success.

"Drug possession," Maashous says quietly, staring at the ceiling. His feet are tapping on the ground and his hands are fidgeting in his lap. "Alcohol abuse. And… endangering a minor." He frowns and glances at the ground.

"Oh," Gordy says quietly. "I… I'm sorry, man."

Maashous shrugs. "It's not your fault," he says. "She's better, now. Or so they've told me." Gordy glances around, trying to think of something to say.

"Did she seem better when you went to talk to her?" he asks eventually, for lack of anything else to say.

"Yeah, I guess," Maashous says. "I haven't seen her since I was eight. She certainly seemed a lot better than I remember. Happier. Less… high? I dunno. She said she'd consider letting me open enroll at Stanton, but…" He gestures to Mr. Mazzucchelli and Ms. Wolfe, who look like they want to scream but are restraining themselves. "Whatever that's about, I'm not even sure if it'll be worth it to come back."

"Of course it'll be worth it," Gordy says. "Kaitlin will be here next year, so you'd have another friend. And, I mean, what's the worst they could do? Fire my dad? They wouldn't do that, his students have the highest pass rate. The worst they could do is make us put on that stupid pirates show again."

Maashous nods. "Yeah, I guess." They sit in silence for a little while longer, watching as more students start exiting the dressing rooms. "They look pretty upset in there," he whispers under his breath, probably not meaning for Gordy to hear. He does anyways.

"Actors don't seem to notice," Gordy remarks, watching the troupe as they emerge and loiter around. "They're all caught up in each other."

"Well, we're crew, I guess," Maashous says. "The black shadows." Gordy laughs, tearing his eyes away from his father's devastated face to scan around the room. His eyes graze over most of the people he doesn't know. Gwen is in the back of the room, talking with a few of the other girls quietly. He watches her for a few moments before he realizes it's probably creepy as Robbie and Lilette walk past, both also looking visibly upset. Gordy sighs and turns back toward his father, catching a few words of their conversation as they move toward the doorway and out of earshot.

"...just say you won't," Robbie hisses. Lilette shakes her head, blinking away tears.

"I can't, Robbie," she says. "The job is already lined up. She's the perfect fit for it, apparently. They need her, according to the guy that gave me these." She holds up the box of chocolates clenched in her hand.

"Forget the damn job in Philadelphia," Robbie says. "What about what you need, huh? Your mother just abandons you for a week and now you're expected to abandon Stanton along with her?"

"Robbie-"

"No, Lilette!" Robbie cuts her off, his voice filled with pain. His angry expression falls and his eyes fill with sadness. "Just… stay. Please. For me."

Lilette can feel her heart shattering with those five words.

"I wish I could," she says in barely more than a whisper. "I don't want to leave you, or Stanton, but my mother… it's what's best for her."

"And what about what's best for you?" Robbie demands. Lilette shakes her head. "You have everything here, everything! You have the drama department, your home, your job, the school, your friends, Simon, me…" His eyes grow more and more desperate as he searches for _some_ sign that she's going to try and stay.

"You don't think I haven't thought about that already?" Lilette cries. "I know what I have here, and it'll _kill_ me to leave all that behind… but we can keep in touch, right? Philadelphia isn't that far, I could come visit on weekends…" This is a lie, and she knows it. They'd be lucky to see each other twice a year…

"It's across the state, Lilette," Robbie says in a small voice. "It's four hundred miles away." Lilette bites her lip and looks the other way, shaking a bit. Robbie takes her hand and uses his other hand to tilt her face toward him. "What if… what if you stayed here? With Simon, or… or with me? Until you're eighteen, and then you can get a place of your own and it won't matter anyways?"

"Robbie, no," Lilette says. "I can't ask you to do that for me."

"So don't ask," Robbie says. "I'll do it anyways."

Lilette shakes her head. "Robbie, _no_ ," she repeats.

"Lilette, I can't… I can't lose you too," he says eventually. She opens her mouth, then closes it. She bites her lip again as a single tear finds its way past her eyelashes.

"I can't lose you either," she whispers. "I'll… I'll talk to my mother. See if there's another way." Robbie nods, squeezing her hand tightly. They move away from the doorway, back toward the rest of the group. Lilette sighs. She needs to tell Simon next. He's her best friend, he deserves to know… that is, she should tell him next, if she could find where he is. Currently it seems that most of the troupe is outside, waiting for any further instruction, except him… and Jeremy. Lilette purses her lips together and glances toward the director's office.

Meanwhile, in the dressing room, Simon is completely ignoring the fact that he feels an immense need to talk to Jeremy. Jeremy also appears to be avoiding the fact that they really need to talk to each other. He scrolls through his phone, wondering which of them will bite and start speaking first. He vows it's not going to be him… unless this uncomfortable silence goes on for too long. They're the last two in the dressing room- it's the perfect opportunity. He just can't bring himself to open his mouth.

Simon clicks his phone off, glancing over at Jeremy at the same moment the other boy looks up at him. "Alright, I'll go first, then," Jeremy says. "What'd your family think?"

"What?" Simon asks, slightly taken aback. He figured Jeremy would get straight to the point. Ha. "Straight to the point." Simon really needs to get better at this.

"You said you had a tough family situation," Jeremy reminds him. "What'd they think of the show?" His tone is light, conversational, but it's masking something much heavier.

"My mom and my sister enjoyed it," Simon says in a closed-off voice. "My dad left halfway through. I can't blame him."

"I'm sorry," Jeremy says. "Was it because of…" He trails off. Simon knows how he was going to finish anyways.

"I think it was a lot of things," Simon says. "But that was what really did it." He looks down at his feet, fidgeting, debating what else to say.

There's silence. Jeremy nods. "So that's it, then?" Simon glances up sharply. "No explanation? Not for any of it?"

"Any of what?" Simon asks, turning away.

"You know what," Jeremy says. "What happened on stage? That all happened for a reason. I know you weren't comfortable with that a week ago, but for some reason you were comfortable with it now. You kissed me for a reason. During the bows, you grabbed my hand for a reason. There was a _reason_ , Simon. What is it?" He's got an intense look in his eye that Simon hasn't seen before. Something about the way Jeremy says his name sets him off.

"I lied, okay?" he says, shrugging, with that look on his face like he's forcing something out of his throat, crazed eyes and a tight smile. "When you kissed me. Outside. However long ago. I was lying to you and I was lying to myself. I did. Like it. I was raised in a household where that kind of thing isn't okay, but being in this show changed something. Being around _you_ changed something. And I am comfortable with it now, I guess."

Jeremy stares at him for a few moments, waiting to see if there's anything else. "So you're…" he trails off, waiting for Simon to finish.

"Gay?" Simon snaps. "Well, I certainly didn't feel anything with Annabelle and I certainly felt something with you so yeah, I guess I am gay."

Jeremy nods again, taking in a deep breath that ends in a shrug. "Alright, then," he says. "So what now?" Once again, Simon is completely taken aback by his swift change in demeanor. He leans back against the wall, waiting for Simon to say something.

"I don't know," Simon says softly. "I don't- my dad is probably ready to disown me when I get home anyways and my mom is going to be the only thing preventing him from doing it. She knows, I know she knows, she's known since this all started, I know it- I'm sorry, I'm rambling, but I really think I have enough _shit_ going on in my life to be in a relationship." He freezes, revelling in how he spat out the curse word he never would've dreamed of saying before the mess this show has turned his life into.

"I understand," Jeremy says truthfully. "We should probably head out, Mr. Mazzu probably wants to say something." He turns and opens the door.

"Jeremy," Simon calls softly, so softly he doesn't think Jeremy will hear him. But he does, and he turns around, waiting. "I do want- something. Just not yet." There. It's done. He's admitted it, out loud, to himself and to Jeremy. It's done. He doesn't have to hide… whatever this is anymore.

"Okay," Jeremy says simply, before turning and walking away.

Simon takes a shuddering breath and rushes out after him, out to the main area where the rest of the cast and crew are waiting. He stands next to Lilette, who glances over and smiles at him. It looks like there's something definitely on her mind too, but when she doesn't say anything he realizes what's going on. All of the students are staring at the door to the director's office, waiting with bated breath as Mr. Mazzu opens the door. It's obvious he and Ms. Wolfe are both upset by the looks on their faces as they stand in front of the door.

"The superintendent came to see the show, as many of you may have seen," Mr. Mazzu starts. "He said you guys- you guys did wonderful." The group relaxes a bit, but they're all still tense. "But he needed to do something."

"Are you fired?" Robbie asks, sounding disappointed.

"No," Mr. Mazzu says. "Tra- Ms. Wolfe and I both still have our jobs, thankfully. But… the show is canceled."

The group breaks into protests, exclaiming how unfair it is. Everything they worked for, just for one show.

"It's not just that," Mr. Mazzu says. "And… it would be best for you to just go home, get some rest, talk to your families-"

"What is it, Mr. Mazzucchelli?" Simon calls harshly.

"The PTA is closing down the drama department," Mr. Mazzu says. "Permanently."

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "You leave me here alone for days, not so much as a call, then come back and tell me we're moving four hundred miles away and just expect me to be okay with it?" - "We're not sure if she's gonna make it. But we're gonna pray." - "You're my brother. I love you… no matter what." - "I should have a say! This is** _ **my**_ **life you're talking about here! I should get to decide what I do and where I go, not some court judge!"**


	3. Episode 3: House Doesn't Feel Like Home

**As always, I'm stunned by your support! It means the world to me to know you're all enjoying! Notes on the location I'm using can be found in the previous chapter's AN. This chapter takes place about ten minutes after the previous chapter. This is pretty much a "filler" chapter, but the next couple will be much longer, I promise ;)**

 **Thanks for reading and enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

* * *

Episode 3: When A House Doesn't Feel Like Home

* * *

Lilette can almost feel the mounting tension as her mother drives. Vanessa's knuckles have turned white as she grips the steering wheel, and Lilette isn't much better. They haven't spoken apart from exchanging pleasantries and praise on her performance, but her mother realized fairly quickly that Lilette doesn't want to talk.

" _The PTA is closing down the drama department."_

It's too horrible to be true. It _can't_ be happening. It just _can't_. This is her first show and she's found her real family… and now she's going to be losing them.

" _Permanently."_

Permanently. What does that even mean? What about in fifty years, when this generation of PTA members is dead and gone? Will there still be no drama department? Will it be banned forevermore, because one director decided to shake things up and _succeeded_?

" _Permanently."_

The looks on the faces of those around her. Simon, who's built his entire life around this program, saw it crashing apart. She couldn't even begin to process the look on her best friend's face. The newcomers were devastated, but nearly so much as those who have known nothing but a high school experience with their theater.

" _Permanently."_

There were questions. So many questions. Protests, too, that they'd _have_ to fight it. Mr. Mazzucchelli looked like he couldn't even talk anymore- like he'd messed up and he knew it. He told them he would have sacrificed his job, anything, to keep it going, but the superintendent couldn't be reasoned with. Ms. Wolfe answered the rest of their questions.

" _Permanently_."

They'd done as he'd told them. They went home. They'll figure something out in the morning- they've fought so hard already, what's a little more?

" _Permanently."_

What does that even mean, permanently? Lilette slams the car door and stalks inside the house, her mother following her. The box of chocolates is crushed in her hands. Her mother closes the door gently. She thought this- her home, her room, her friends, her job, her life- she thought that was permanent. But apparently not.

" _Permanently."_

"Lilette?" her mother says tentatively. Lilette drops the chocolates down on the table and turns, very slowly, to face her mother. Her mother looks- fearful, almost. Of what Lilette is about to say. "Are you okay?"  
"No," Lilette says, her voice shaky. "I'm not. I'm _not_ okay, and it's because of _you_." It's been a long time and no time at all since they last argued. A million years ago and just yesterday. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?"  
"Hey," her mother says in a low voice. "Don't talk to me like that."

"Like you get to play the parent suddenly!" Lilette screeches. "I was here for days- _days_! Alone! With not so much as a word of whether you were okay or not apart from a two-word text every other day! If it weren't for Robbie and for this damn show, I don't know if I would have gotten through it! You can't just come back and expect things to continue like it's nothing!"

"Lilette," her mother pleads, but she isn't having any of it.

"You leave me here for days, not so much as a call, and then come back and tell me we're moving four hundred miles away and just expect me to be okay with it?" Lilette screams, hot tears beginning to spill from her lashes. "In what world would I ever be okay with that, Mom? In what world would I want to leave me home?"

"You have for the past years, Lilette, please-"

"Not anymore! Not when I finally have something- _had_ something good going, because the drama department was shut down _permanently_ and if I don't have you I don't have much left!" She picks up the chocolates and slams them down again, breathing heavily. Her mother looks like she's trying to come up with something to say, but can't.

"Lilette," she says quietly, gently. "You have every right- _every right_ \- to be upset right now."

"Damn straight I do," Lilette says, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "I'm sorry. It was wrong for me to rip into you like that. It's just- I'm in shock. The drama department is closing, Mom. For good. Permanently."

"I'm so sorry, honey," her mother says, reaching out a hand tentatively and then withdrawing it almost immediately. "I'm so sorry."  
"I can't leave," Lilette says through the thick tears now splattering her hand as she hastily tries to wipe them away. "I _can't_ -"

"I know, honey," her mother says softly. "I know."

"Can we, maybe, not go right away?" Lilette asks carefully. "Just… you really can't do that. Abandon Stanton and then tell me I have to abandon it, too."

Her mother ponders this for a moment. Lilette sniffs and she sighs. "Sure. We can stay… for a little while." Lilette nods, standing up. Her mother doesn't say anything as she goes to her room and closes the door, leaving the chocolates on the table.

She falls onto her bed almost immediately, clutching her pillow to her face to muffle her sobs. Because everything has changed.

Permanently.

" _Permanently."_

Robbie glances out the window as his father starts the car. After dropping his step-mother at home, they went to bring his mother back. Now they're leaving, and though he's undeniably distraught by Mr. Mazzu's news, he had to keep it together in the car, for his mother's sake.

"The drama department is closing," Robbie says quietly. His father glances over. "Permanently."

"Permanently?" his father asks. "No more shows?"  
"No more shows," Robbie confirms. He feels… numb. Like he still hasn't realized what it fully means. No more shows. Ever.

"You can focus on football, then," his father says, grinning. Robbie shakes his head. He can't deal with this right now.

"Is Mom going to be okay?" he asks suddenly. His father jerks the steering wheel and nearly swerves the car.

"She's doing better," his father says tentatively. "I know that the doctors talk to you about a lot of stuff, but as far as I know… she's doing better. We're still not… we're not sure if she's gonna make it, but we're gonna pray."

Robbie nods, not entirely satisfied, but…

She has to make it.

She needs to.

First Lilette, then the drama department… if he loses his mother, he may break. Permanently.

" _Permanently."_

Lou Mazzucchelli opens the front door to his house and closes it carefully behind him. His wife is leaning up against the counter, waiting for him to say something. He can spy his daughters hiding behind the couch, and Gordy is poking his head out from behind his door. Sadie and Kaitlin rush off giggling when they see him enter, but he catches them running into Gordy's room. The door shuts, but he knows they're all listening.

"Hey," Gail says. "Hey, hey, what happened?"

"They closed it down," Lou says, his voice hoarse. "The whole thing. Permanently."

"They didn't," Gordy says in a low voice, and he can hear Kaitlin gasp. Lou glances up- the door is open again, and his son looks positively murderous.

"They did," Lou says in barely more than a whisper. "Because of me."

"No," Gail says. "No, those kids won't blame you-"

"They won't," Gordy confirms. "They worship the ground you walk on. They're not going to blame you at all."

"They really did it," Kaitlin says, looking stunned. Sadie, recognizing that something is horribly wrong, drags her older sister off. Gordy closes his door, shaking his head.

"It'll be okay, Lou," Gail says. "It'll be okay."

"No," Lou says. "It won't."

Gail purses her lips, glancing toward the basement door… but Maashous is gone.

The house feels emptier.

Maashous himself isn't feeling much better. He talked with his mother for about three minutes before realizing she doesn't really care about his shows. She seems to care about him, so she was putting up a good act, but she's just been absent for so long…  
And now he's on a bed that's harder than the one at the Mazzu's and he's in a room that's colder than the one at the Mazzu's and he's in an apartment that despite being his blood relatives, seems a lot less like a family than when he was with the Mazzu's.

He wants to go back.

He wants the comfort and the security that their family provides. Because without the drama department, he has nothing. Nothing except that little family of misfits he was able to call his own. And now… now that's gone. Maybe permanently.

It's cold and dark, and he doesn't like it.

Simon's house is not cold and dark. Quite the opposite. It's warm and vibrant, and somehow it feels horrible. When his mother softly shuts the door behind them, he can see his father get up off of the couch. Simon bites the inside of his cheek as his father walks toward him. He wants to hold his head high, show he's not ashamed of their performance. But as his father stops in front of him, he lowers his head and casts his gaze away. He says nothing, and his father says nothing, and they both keep moving in opposite directions.

He feels… unsafe. In his own home. Is this an okay feeling? He doesn't think he should feel like this. His mother squeezes his shoulder before gesturing for Emma to come away. She doesn't, though, not quite yet. First she wraps her arms around her older brother's waist again.

"You're my brother," she says, beaming up at him. "I love you. No matter what." He smiles at her. She pulls away, following their mother.

He rushes into his room as quickly as he can. A torrent of emotions come spilling out at once. This isn't happening. The drama department. Lilette. Jeremy. His father. This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't happening.

This is happening.

His life has been completely and utterly changed by this one show.

His life has been completely changed… permanently.

Miles away, Sasha enters the little trailer her father calls home. She glances back at him- he's watching the television, and he doesn't even look up.

She sighs and disappears into her room.

Just another day.

Gwen, meanwhile, has had a much louder evening with her mother.

"Splitting custody? Really?" she demands. Her mother sighs.

"Gwen, it's for the best-"

"For the best?" Gwen says, laughing, as if the very idea is ludicrous. "Since when have you and Dad made decisions for me that are for the best? Why don't I get a say in where I live? I don't want to live with him-"

"Gwen, it was decided in court-"

"I don't care!" she screams. "I should have a say! This is _my_ life we're talking about here! I should get to decide what I do and where I go, not some court judge!"  
"Gwen, you're just upset about the drama department-"

"I don't want to hear it," Gwen says. "This theater was my _life_ , Mom, so I'm damn well upset about it amongst a lot of other things. If you need me, I'll be up in my room- the only room I _want_ to be in."

Her mother watches her go.

Something has shattered in Gwen, maybe permanently. In her time as a costume designer, she's worked with a lot of kids, and she knows how much the program means to them. This isn't just going to be affecting Gwen, it's going to be affecting _all_ of them.

For better or for worse.

Who knows? she thinks to herself. Maybe they'll just rise above it.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "Is there** _ **any**_ **possible way to do this without getting our directors fired?" - "He sounds…" "Awful?" "Worse. If there's anything I can do…" "I'll let you know." - "What if… what if we did what we do best?" - "You can't get into this again, you promised me you were better!" - "Be careful, or you'll end up like your mother."**


	4. Episode 4: Moving On

**Back again with another chapter! I was going to wait until 7PM (when the show was normally on in my time zone) for *authenticity,* and then I thought "screw that, let's publish it now." I hope it was worth the wait! Notes on the location I'm using can be found in the chapter two's AN. This chapter takes place the day after opening night.**

 **To Guest: thank you! To Maggie (guest): Wow, thank you so much!**

 **Thanks for reading, and most of all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

* * *

Episode 4: Moving On

* * *

When Lilette wakes up, the first things she does is check her phone for texts from Robbie, Simon, Gwen, anyone. As it turns out, there are plenty of texts on the cast and crew group chat. All of them are from within the previous hour, and all concerning the same thing: where to meet so they can all get together and discuss these newest revelations. None of them have any plans for today- they were all booked, expecting to have two performances. Now they're left with their thoughts and a free Saturday.

Lilette scrolls through the texts quickly, scanning over them all. No one has offered a place for this meeting yet, so she offers one: the diner where she works.

 **How about my diner? I'm not working today, so it's not like we have to plan around my break or anything haha**

Multiple people text back at they'll be there at noon for lunch. Lilette glances at the time- nearly ten. She sighs- her mother must have snuck into her room and turned off her alarm. Either that, or she completely slept through it.

She gets ready to go quickly, having texted Simon for a ride. Then she calls in to see if she can pick up the two o'clock shift- might as well make some extra money. Her manager says she can, they're short on workers that afternoon. Her mother is nowhere to be found- Lilette panics for a moment until she sees a note on the counter. Just picking up some groceries. The chocolates are still on the table where Lilette left them the night before. Seeing the crumpled box makes her feel somewhat guilty, so she tries to straighten it out the best she can before leaving as Simon texts her that he's outside.

She gets in the car and after exchanging greetings they drive in silence for a while. "How are you doing?" she asks eventually.

"I'm… alright," Simon replies evenly. "Last night was a wreck. When I got home, I mean. The show was great."

"Yeah," Lilette says, a slight smile forming. "Yeah, the show was great."

They continue in silence until Simon pulls into the parking lot of the diner. They walk inside to find most of the cast and crew already there, claiming a large table. Lilette waves to her coworkers behind the counter as Jolene waves the two of them over.

"You're the last to get here," she says, grinning, as they take their seats. "Alright, everybody order up! We have shit we need to talk about!" Uneasy laughs ripple up and down the table as people start to get their food and drinks. There's mild chatter as they eat for a few minutes before Jolene clinks her knife on her glass.

"Excellent," she says. "Now that I have all of your attention- and please, don't mind my French here- what the _fuck_ are we going to do about this drama department problem?"

The group laughs again before falling back into silence.

"Well, obviously we have to do something," Simon says when no one speaks up. "We can't just sit back and let them destroy everything we care about." He glances at Lilette as he says this, who nods encouragingly. "Some of us have built our lives around this program." He nods to Gwen and Maashous as he says this- they have especially. "Some of us are newcomers and have found our family." _Lilette, Michael, Robbie, Jeremy_. "It's something that we need to protect no matter what."

"Hear, hear!" Robbie says from Lilette's other side, raising his milkshake glass. The rest of the group raises their glasses to him as well, grinning. Simon flushes under the praise.

"Exactly," Michael says, nodding. "Which raises the question- is there _any_ possible way to do this without getting our directors fired?"

There's silence. Complete silence. Because honestly, they can't think of anything.

"We already know Mr. Mazzu offered his job," Maashous says quietly. "Multiple times. And they weren't having it."

"They wouldn't sacrifice two excellent teachers," Gordy says sourly, as if it hurts himself to admit his father is a good teacher. "They're not stupid. Ms. Wolfe is an asset to them, definitely, she's pulled all kinds of stuff and they'd never get rid of her. And even if no one pays attention in my dad's class, his students have the highest passing rate. They're on thin ice, sure… but I don't think they're going to be fired any time soon, not as long as they keep their heads down and their voices quiet."

"But we won't get anything done if they keep their voices quiet," Annabelle points out.

"Nobody's ever accomplished anything by keeping their heads down," Jeremy adds.

"So we don't," Gwen says with the air of someone taking charge. "We let them keep their heads down and stay quiet. But _we_ don't. We fight this ourselves. They can't expel us over something like this. We could- we could form our own club, find local theaters to perform at."

"This is _Stanton_ ," Simon says sourly. "The only theater here is the one we just got kicked out of. Besides, where would we get the funding?"

"We need to take this to the PTA," Lilette offers. "Try and convince them-"

"No," Gwen says. "Sorry, Lilette, but the PTA won't listen to us anymore. Not after they've already made a decision."

"Was it the PTA, though?" Simon says. "I think, the superintendent-"

"It was the superintendent that told Mr. Mazzu they'd be shutting down the theater program," Gordy confirms. "Not the PTA. The PTA was just on board with it."

"There we have it," Robbie says. "We go to the PTA, the next meeting- convince them to give us the department back, or at least convince them to think about it."

"And how are we going to do that?" Michael asks.

"We'll- we'll think about it," Robbie says. "The next meeting is, what, next Thursday? We can have something prepared by then."

"Easily," Maashous adds. "Two nights ago the show was shit, don't mind me saying that, and last night it was spectacular." The cast grins.

"It's decided, then," Jolene says, clapping her hands together. "Next PTA meeting- we'll be there. Agreement to keep Mr. Mazzu and Ms. Wolfe out of it, for now?"

"For now," Simon agrees.

"All in favor?" Gwen asks, two which everyone says yes.

"One more vote," Lilette says. "Consensus to make this diner the usual meeting place? For consistency's sake." Everyone votes in favor of it, too, and they continue eating and talking about trivial things that _don't_ have to do with the fate of their entire high school careers.

Meanwhile, someone else is having a very similar discussion. Gordy had left an hour ago, saying he was going to meet up with some friends. When Gail and Lou had looked suspicious, he confirmed that Maashous would be there, and they let him go without any qualms. Gail could see this sting a little, but left it in the back of her mind for later. Kaitlin and Sadie were practicing on the piano, Sadie trying to teach Kaitlin, when the doorbell rang. Sadie leaps up at the sound, throwing the door open.

"Hi, Ms. Wolfe!" she says. "Are you here for Dad?"

"Hello, Sadie," Ms. Wolfe says, smiling warmly. "As a matter of fact, I am. Is he here?" Sadie nods as Lou turns around the corner out of the hallway, Gail close behind him.

"Tracey!" he says, sounding surprised. "What's all this-"

"We need to get our department back, and we need to do it now," she says, closing the door behind her. Sadie and Kaitlin go back to the piano. None of the three adults notice when their playing fades out into nothing as they eavesdrop on the conversation. "Without getting either of us fired."

"I know, Tracey," Lou says. "I just don't know if there's anything we can do at this point-"

"Convince them to change their minds," Gail says quietly. Lou casts his wife a sharp look. She gives him a pointed one in return. "They've tried to shut you down time and time again, and you've always fought back. This time it looks like they've really done it. Are you going to let them have that victory?" Tracey smiles at her. Lou looks- proud.

"No," he says. "No, we're not."

"The next meeting is next Thursday," Tracey says immediately. "We can go then."

"But what will they think?" Lou asks. "We can't go up there and talk."

"So have the actors do it!" Sadie shouts from the piano. Kaitlin claps a hand over her mouth, but can't refrain from adding, "And the crew, too."

The three adults look at each other, then back at the two girls.

"You know," Lou says.

"That just might work," Tracey finishes, beaming.

Near two, the group at the diner begins dispersing. People start leaving, some of them driving off right away, others choosing to walk around with their friends. Lilette, of course, has to stay and work until six- not a long shift, but better than sitting at home doing nothing but thinking of ways to convince the PTA to give them the drama department back.

"Hey," Robbie says as she turns to go back behind the counter.

"Hey," she says, smiling. "What's up?"

"Did you- ah- did you talk to your mom?" he asks, fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt. She smiles- he looks adorable when he's worried.

"Yeah," she says. "We're staying- for now. For a little while longer, at least."

"Thank God," Robbie says, breaking out into a smile and instantly melting. Lilette laughs as he grabs her hand and kisses the back of it. "Thank God."

"That was my reaction, too," she says, and they laugh again.

"I would hate to lose something so beautiful," he says. "And for so many more reasons than that."

"Robbie, I have to get to my shift," she says, blushing.

"Well, I couldn't possibly bear to lose someone so intelligent," he continues.

"Robbie-"

"Or such an amazing singer."

"Robbie!"  
"It's true! And a great kisser," he murmurs.

"Robbie!" Lilette hisses. "I need to go-"

"Suarez!" her manager calls. "Two o'clock."

Robbie looks at her with mock disappointment, but kisses her hand again. "I'll see you later?" he asks.

"After all that?" she replies. "Count on it, Thorne." He grins and waves as he leaves the diner. She makes her way behind the counter, watching his jeep pull away. She glances back at her manager, who just gives her the same look he's always given her since her mother attacked him. She can't blame him- if he talked to her like that, she would've done something long before her mother did. Although, now she supposes it's her mother's rage that's gotten her into this situation in the first place- will they leave or will they stay.

She sighs and takes the first customer's order. No time to reflect now- now is time to work. She sees that a few people are still hanging out inside, waiting for rides or for friends to finish eating. She waves to Simon as he exits, Jeremy close behind him. She wants to shout something but doubts everyone else would appreciate it.

About a minute earlier, Simon realizes that he does _not_ want to go home and face his father. Not in the slightest. His father is going to mass tonight, something about a work trip tomorrow- if he can stall for a few hours, he'll be gone by the time Simon gets home. So instead of going to his car, he turns to Jeremy.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asks. Jeremy has his own car, and it doesn't seem like he would be ditching anybody. Jeremy glances around as they walk out of the diner.

"Where to?" he asks as the door shuts. Simon shrugs. Jeremy, figuring by now it's something to do with his family, nods and starts walking away from the diner, Simon next to him. "Anything in particular bothering you?" he asks nonchalantly, leaving Simon the option to respond or not.

"My dad," he says quietly. "He refused to talk to me. I don't know what he's going to do, if he finds out- if he finds out-" It's just then that everything really comes crashing down on Simon. His dad could do anything. He could force him to go back to St. Francis, he could kick him out of the house, he could make him go to some boarding school- Simon won't be safe in his own home if his father overreacts, he might need to move in with Lilette, but Lilette might be leaving, she told him so, what's he gonna do-

"Hey," Jeremy says quietly, gently. Simon realizes that he's come to a complete halt in the middle of the sidewalk. Jeremy grabs his hand and drags him toward a nearby bench. His eyes are wide as he sits down, Jeremy next to him. "You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be okay, I promise."

"You can't promise that," Simon says blearily.

"But I will anyways," Jeremy says confidently.

"My dad, he just- he doesn't understand, anything different from what he believes. He refuses to accept change."

"He sounds…"

"Awful?"

"Worse. If you ever need anything-"

"I'll let you know," Simon says quietly. Jeremy offers a slight smile.

"Don't worry about your dad," he says. "Your mom is alright with everything, isn't she?"

Simon nods. "My sister, too," he says, remembering Emma's words from the previous night.

"See?" Jeremy says, nodding along. "They won't let anything happen to you. You're safe." Simon nods again.

"Yeah," he says. He glances down and realizes he's still clutching Jeremy's hand. "Alright. Do you want to-" he jerks his head toward the sidewalk and Jeremy laughs, standing up. Simon is a little bit disappointed when the blond boy's hand slips out of his, and then frowns, but keeps walking.

"So," Jeremy says eventually. "What does the mysterious Simon Saunders do when he's not in the theater?"

Only a block or two away, Michael leans up against the wall of the diner, scrolling through his phone. He's just waiting for his mother to arrive to drive him home- Maashous lives on the other side of town and had something scheduled with his own mother, and Sasha had to run some errands for her father. His normal rides having abandoned him, he just has to wait another ten minutes, and he'd rather do that outside than inside.

"Hey," someone says softly, and he turns to see Gwen. Her arms are crossed and her phone is tucked carefully under one arm. "Are you good?"

"Yeah," Michael says, nodding. "Just waiting for my ride. She'll be here soon," he adds quickly, in case Gwen offers. She nods and leans back against the wall with him.

"I never got to tell you how much fun I had singing 'Blue Wind/Don't Do Sadness' with you," Gwen says suddenly. Michael glances over.

"Really?" he asks.

"Yeah," Gwen says, nodding. "We sounded great."

Michael laughs. "Yeah, we did," he agrees. He slips his phone into his pocket and the two stand there for a while, watching the cars drive by.

He's almost startled when Gwen starts humming the song in question under her breath. But when she gets to the part where Moritz joins in, he starts singing, too. They stand there for the duration of the song, not looking at each other, just grinning and singing and watching the passerby. It's only when the song fades out into nothing that they realize the people walking past them have dropped at least five dollars at their feet.

Michael sees Gwen's eyes light up. Something rockets off in his mind, as well, and it isn't because they just made a few bucks.

"For the PTA meeting," Gwen says quietly. Michael grins. "What if… what if we do what we do best?"

They're long gone when Simon and Jeremy get back. The two walk and talk for nearly an hour and a half, and by the time they've looped back around to the diner, Simon is feeling considerably better about everything. His father should be leaving in an hour, and Jeremy says he should be getting home- Simon can stall for an hour, right?  
"It's been fun," Jeremy says, grinning at him. "We should do it again sometime."

"I agree," Simon says before he can stop himself. Jeremy waves as he gets into his car and drives off. Simon steps into his own car and as soon as the door is closed lets his head fall down onto the steering wheel as he groans.

He's screwed. Completely and utterly screwed. One could almost say… totally fucked.

Because he definitely, undeniably, indisputably, unquestionably, for _certain_ , has a major crush on Jeremy Travers. And he may as well dwell on it, because he still has an hour to stall before he heads for home.

Simon isn't the only one stalling. Maashous Evers sits at the counter of the Starbucks near his house, stirring his straw in a long-empty drink. He feels a little bad for leaving Michael stranded at the diner and he knows Michael would have come along with him, but he really doesn't want pity. Nor does he want anyone to know his situation at home.

He's been with his mother for one night. One night, and he already hates it. He doesn't hate her, but…

Maashous is someone who likes to think that people can change. On stage crew, being a silent shadow had its perks- he knew all of the actor drama. He's watched them grow up and grow into better people. He likes to think that people can change… but he knows that deep down, they're really the same. Or at least, his mother is.

He realizes he can't stall at the counter any longer and starts driving for home. He makes his way into the apartment carefully. His mother waves to him brightly and asks if he wants to sit down and talk. He does, and they do, for nearly half an hour, about things that don't really matter. Still just catching up on his life for the last eight years. Something seems off the whole time, however, and it's only when he excuses himself to his room that he realizes what the unmistakable stench in the rest of the apartment was.

It's been a while since his mother left, but he can still recognize the scent of her drugs.

He gets up off his bed quickly and slams his door back open. His mother is still on the couch, flipping through channels on the TV.

"Really?" he says quietly. She turns back to look at him.

"What is it?" she asks. He doesn't respond, just walks into the kitchen and starts opening cabinets until he finds what he wants- a plastic baggie of green stuff.

"What has it been, three weeks? A month?" he says softly, never one for raising his voice. "You can't get into this again, you promised me you were better!"  
"I'll get rid of it!" she promises. "I'm just… holding onto it. For a friend."

"Mom," he says, pleadingly. "Get rid of it. Don't bring any more of it in. I can't… you can't go back there. I can't go back to foster care." He knows somewhere it would mean going back to the Mazzucchelli's, really, but he can't risk it. He absolutely cannot risk it.

"I will," she says, nodding. "I promise."

"You seem to be breaking a lot of promises," he says. Then he realizes, as he throws the stuff back into the cabinet, that this is the opportune time to bring something else up to his mother. "Well, if you're risking that… can I keep going to Stanton?"

She looks at him questioningly, confused by his sudden change of tone.

"I know we're far out of the district," he says quietly. "But I can drive. I have my car." It's a battered, beaten thing that's a decade and a half old, but it runs. It took him a full two years of fixing various lighting structures around Stanton and the nearby area to save up for it, and after he bought it he kept it a secret from the Mazzucchelli's- though he didn't quite know why. Maybe because he was used to keeping secrets from the people who let him live with them. Mrs. Mazzu had always said they didn't tell lies… but they never brought it up, so technically he wasn't lying about it.

"Yeah," his mom says, shrugging. "I'm fine with that, if you're willing to make the drive yourself. Do you need to talk to anyone about it?"

"No," he says, breathless. "No, I don't think so." He had told everyone he would talk to administration about leaving Stanton, but he never actually went through with it. He was always holding out hope- but it seems like she doesn't really care.

"Alright," he says, nodding. "Well- get rid of that stuff, okay, Mom?"

She nods and goes back to her television.

Maashous sighs and goes back to his room.

At six o'clock, Lilette is finally ready to end her shift. She's just clocking out and leaving the kitchen when her manager clears his throat. She glances back to see that he's only a few inches from her- not touching her, but much too close for comfort. She can practically feel the blood drain from her face.

"Be careful," he says quietly. "Or you'll end up like your mother."

She practically runs, not even bothering to reply. She just wants to get out of there as quickly as possible. She doesn't realize until she's a block away that she doesn't have a way to get home, other than walking- her mother has always been able to drive her to and from work, because she doesn't have her license yet, and Simon has always been able to drive her anywhere else.

She pulls out her phone and texts the first person she thinks of- Robbie. To her immense luck he's only a few minutes away and before she knows it she's climbing into his car.

"Hey," he says, grinning. "My mom is doing better. Dad told me."

"That's great!" Lilette says enthusiastically. She resolves in that moment not to mention anything about her boss. "Really, that's amazing, Robbie, I'm so happy for you." He grins as he continues driving. She settles into her seat, glancing around. She's safe. Her manager can't do anything to her- she's a minor. Right?

"How was work?" Robbie asks conversationally.

"Fine," Lilette squeaks. She clears her throat. "It was fine."

"Alright," Robbie says, not nothing anything out of the ordinary. "Got any dinner plans?"

Lilette smiles. "My mother would love to have you over."

It'll be alright, she tells herself. It'll be alright.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "You're still… with Ms. Wolfe, right?" "Yes… wait, what's going on?" - "If you do this for me… I'll consider living with you. Half the time." - "I will make them get off of that stage right now. And this time we'll be sure they're never on a stage again."**


	5. Episode 5: Speak Up (I Believe)

**Hello hello my lovelies! So much has changed since I last updated, wow, but I hope you all continue to enjoy this fic! Your support is overwhelming and I love it. I almost forgot this chapter, so if there are small errors or it seems a bit mediocre/rushed, I'm sorry about that.**

 **A quick note: any jokes made in the beginning about the condition of the theater are taken from my own theater experience, because our drama club isn't funded and our theater is crap. The start of this chapter takes place a few days after the last chapter, and any other time changes are mentioned within.**

 **To Maggie (Guest): Thank you so, so much! I hope you enjoy!**

 **To Timetruthhurts (Guest): Thank you so much, your words mean the world to me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!**

 **Thanks for reading, and most of all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

* * *

Episode 5: Speak Up (I Believe)

* * *

Maashous glances down at his phone. He's inside the Stanton High School theater- just because there isn't a drama department doesn't mean it's unused, and he still has to fix the theater's constantly-breaking lights. Currently, he and Andy Kranepool are working at the lights, testing them out and making sure everything is set for the softball meeting being held the next night. The group has been texting for hours, trying to figure out how to communicate with their directors their plan. They decided not to go talking about it out-right, in case either director could get into trouble for it, or lest the PTA finds out about their plan before they're able to enact it and shuts them down. Because of this, they haven't been able to talk to either Mr. Mazzucchelli or Ms. Wolfe during the school day, and it's already Wednesday. They have barely more than a week until the PTA meeting, and while they have a plan, they need to let their adults know what they're doing somehow.

Then Maashous glances at Mr. Kranepool, and realizes that he and Ms. Wolfe had gone on a date- and Maashous is pretty sure they're still together.

He texts the group chat when Mr. Kranepool's back is turned, and the response is immediately positive. Almost everyone thinks he and Ms. Wolfe are still dating, and it would a perfect way for them to communicate without trouble. They pick the usual place to meet with the directors, for the next night.

Maashous turns to Mr. Kranepool. He glances up just as one of the lights flickers out, and curses softly under his breath.

"Mr. Kranepool?" Maashous asks. The man turns over sharply.

"What?" he asks immediately. "Did I program something wrong? Is that why this thing won't work? I don't think I should have-"

"You're still… with Ms. Wolfe, right?"

Mr. Kranepool stares blankly at him, then blinks a few times. "Yes…" he says uncertainly, then freezes. "Wait, what's this about?"

"It's about the department closing," Maashous says nervously. "We, ah, the actors and crew I mean, we have a plan to get them to open it again, and we need to let Ms. Wolfe and Mr. Mazzu know."

"So you want me to talk to Tracey?" Mr. Kranepool says, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you have her in class? Why can't you?"

"We don't want to the PTA to shut us down before we even try," Maashous explains. "Do you think you could pass a message for us?"  
Mr. Kranepool sighs. "Write it down, kid, and then let's figure out what's wrong with this light."

Maashous grins.

After he and Mr. Kranepool have finished making sure all of the lights are working properly, Maashous heads out. He scrolls through the texts on the group chat and sends a quick message: **Usual place. 7:00. Tomorrow. Directors will be there.**

He gets an immediate reaction from at least six people and grins as he gets into his car. They're not going down without a fight.

It takes a lot for the students to get through school the next day. They exchange the usual smiles with Mr. Mazzucchelli and Ms. Wolfe, saying nothing about the meeting, though hopefully the directors have gotten the message. In the hallway, they high-five each other and grin, still not speaking a word.

Most of them start arriving ten or fifteen minutes early. They come in two's and three's, dragging tables together and claiming seats as their own. Lilette and Robbie are the first there- Lilette's shift ended at 6:30 and they had dinner together before starting to claim tables when Sasha and Michael arrived. By 6:55 the last of the students, Simon and Jeremy, have arrived, leaving them two seats at the head of the table for the directors. Mr. Mazzu gets there first with Gordy, who takes a seat next to Gwen. Ms. Wolfe arrives a few minutes later and sees Mr. Mazzu wave at her with a look of confusion on his face.

"What's going on?" she asks as she takes a seat. "Andy said Maashous wanted to talk with us- we didn't expect all of you to be here!"  
"Well, see," Robbie starts. He pauses as someone comes to quickly take the order of those who haven't placed them yet. As soon as the waitress is gone, he continues. "We know how to get the theater program back."

"What?" Ms. Wolfe says sharply.

"We're going to talk to the PTA," Simon says. "At the meeting next week."

"You've been planning this?" Mr. Mazzu asks. He glances sharply at Gordy, who shrugs. "For how long?"

"Since the day after opening night," Jolene says proudly.

"We already have a plan of what we're going to do," Michael adds. "We just needed your blessing to go through with it."  
"You planned it without us?" Ms. Wolfe asks, still a bit in shock that they all pulled themselves together to do this.

"We didn't want you to get in trouble," Lilette offers. "Too risky."

"You don't have to speak at the meeting, either," Maashous adds quickly. "We have that part covered. And. You know. Too risky."

"Right," Mr. Mazzu says, nodding along. "Well, if you're confident you might be able to do something for our department…" he trails off, glancing to Ms. Wolfe. She nods, beaming with pride.

"We'll be there to cheer you on," she says warmly to her students. "Sitting front and center."

"Provided you can get on the list of speakers at the meeting," Mr. Mazzu adds quietly. The students' eyes go wide- they hadn't thought of that part yet.

"Don't worry about it," Gwen says almost immediately, thinking as fast as she possibly can. "I'll get us on the list."

"You will?" Robbie asks, somewhat doubtfully.

"My father is the football coach," she says, and Robbie nods knowingly. "They're always on the list, funding something or another. We'll get on that list."

Gwen sets off an hour later, going for her father's apartment rather than her home. She's willing to do this for the theater. She'll make sacrifices for the things she loves, the people she loves, even if it means her unhappiness for a little while longer.

She knocks on the door to the apartment, even though she knows she could just walk right in. Her father answers almost immediately, and looks very surprised to see her.

"Hey, sweetie," he says. "How… how's it going?" She's tried to avoid all contact with him since the play, and for the most part she's succeeded.

"I'm just here for one thing," she says quickly. "We're fighting for the theater department. We're speaking at the PTA meeting. Only, we need to be on the speaking list."

"Okay?" her father asks, confused as to why she's telling him this.

"You always speak," she continues. "You're the coach. You have a _lot_ of influence on the PTA."

"And?" he says, still not sure where she's going. Gwen takes a deep breath.

"Can you get us on the list?" she asks.

"What?" he asks sharply. "You want me to get you and your friends to speak for the PTA?"

"Yes," Gwen says. She continues before he can interrupt. "If you do this for me… I'll consider living with you. Half the time."

Her father stares blankly. She's still in the hallway, he's still just inside the apartment.

"Dad?" she asks quietly.

"I- yes," he says after another moment or two. "Yes, I can get you on the list."

* * *

The week passes quickly- the gang gets together a few times to rehearse over the weekend and during the next week, completely prepared to go before the PTA. They were approved simply because of Coach Strickland's influence, otherwise the PTA would have shot them down like flies. However, sitting in the audience, they completely didn't realize that the principal and superintendent were also in attendance at this meeting.

But they can do it. Many parents showed up to support their kids, and they can indeed see Mr. Mazzucchelli and Ms. Wolfe sitting front and center.

Several sports teams speak and leave, some of them with increased funding, some with no changes. The football team is approved another thousand dollars for new practice equipment, and then the students find themselves walking up onto the stage, much to the horror of the principal.

Simon steps up to the microphone. "Hello," he says quietly into it, clutching his hands behind his back. He makes eye contact with his mother in the audience, and she smiles at him. "We are what was known as the Stanton Drama Department. Recently we had a bit of a controversial show that upset a lot of people." He looks directly down at the PTA as he says this. "But it also helped a lot more people."

Behind him, the whole cast starts humming quietly- "I Believe," from their show. They figured it was good because if you don't know the context, it's a song of hope and acceptance- and because it was what they sang the night of the bonfire. It became their own song of rebellion then, and here they are rebelling again now.

"The theater program changed my life," Simon says. "In all my time at Stanton High School, it has made me feel loved and accepted in my community. It has allowed me to do what I love, and in a place that I've felt safe. It's allowed me to express myself and challenge myself in ways I didn't think possible. I wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for Stanton's drama program. And now, you've taken that away."

The singing gets louder as Maashous steps forward.

"This program has literally been my life," he says. "For all my time here, I've never known anything else. The theater was my home for a long time, and it still is my home. I've never felt happier in a place then I do running the lights during a performance or a rehearsal. The drama department, the shows, the lights, they kept me going for a long time, but now that's gone."

Gwen stands forward next, watching her father.

"You know me," she says. "I was the lead in all the shows before this one. Then Mr. Mazzu came along, and he… changed things. He changed things for the better. Some people say that when people try to change things, others will call it disruption. And yeah, Mr. Mazzu went against the norm. He went against everything that the drama department used to be. And now it's _better_. And now it's gone."

Gordy walks up quickly.

"I'm new to all of this," he says. "I worked on the last show as my volunteering. And I loved it. I loved this. I loved, _love_ , this little family up here. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I was given an opportunity in the theater, and I loved it. But other kids won't be able to. You've taken that chance from them." He looks like he wants to say more, but makes eye contact with his father and steps back, letting Michael take the floor next.

"This was the place where we felt accepted, where we felt loved, where we were able to be ourselves and not worry about the judgement of anyone else," he tells the PTA. "You were in high school once, you remember how it goes- I'm sure you had some way to relieve all that tension, all that weight of stress and school and life. This was that release for a lot of kids- all of us up here, in fact. It helped us get through the tough times. It helped us feel loved. Are you really going to keep that from us?"

He steps back as Robbie and Lilette step forward. The singing gets even louder- they're singing on repeat, letting everyone that wanted to get a word in get a word in. Others just wanted to stay in the background and make a more subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.

"Hi," Lilette says. "You might recognize us as the stars of the department's last show."

"The one you shut us down for," Robbie adds. "Just in case you'd forgotten." There are laughs from the parents of the drama students.

"We're both drama newcomers," Lilette says. "For both of us, this was our first show. And we absolutely loved it."

"Football is what I'm good at," Robbie says, watching Coach Strickland. "It's what I want to be doing. But theater is my passion, and I want to be doing that, too."

"I've made more than friends here," Lilette adds. "I've found a family. And unfortunately, you've taken that away from us."

"By shutting us down, you've tried to tear our family apart," Robbie says. "Unfortunately for you, we will not be so easily defeated."

"We're prepared to do whatever it takes for our theater," Lilette says. "And that includes standing in front of you, singing one of the songs from the controversial musical that gained a petition and a closure of the drama department for good."

"In what world is that fair?" Robbie asks them rhetorically. "In what world do you hurt the futures of high school students in this district forever?"  
"The next Ben Platt, Lin Manuel Miranda, or Phillipa Soo may be at this school right now," Lilette says. "And they won't get a chance to shine, because this theater was shut down."

"We had a chance to meet our family, to find our passions, to live our lives the way they should be lived, all through this drama department," Robbie says. "The next years of students won't be so lucky if you don't allow us to reopen the department."

"So we're just up here asking you- will you allow us a chance to prove to you that this program helps more than it hurts?" Lilette says. "Because, really, if you don't like a show- don't come to it."

"It's really that easy!" Robbie adds, to more laughs from the drama parents.

In the audience, the principal turns to the superintendent. The singing comes to a crescendo, louder and louder, waiting for them to make their decision.

"I will make them get off of that stage right now," the principal hisses. "And this time we'll be sure they're never on a stage again."

The students watch anxiously. They could all hear what the principal whispered, though the doubt the rest of the audience could. The superintendent watches their faces. They look hopeful, encouraged... they really feel that they're making a difference. And they are- they are. This theater has indeed changed their lives, he can see it in how they sing, how they stand, in front of a room full of adults that have shut them down time and time again. The principal is watching him expectantly, waiting for him to agree, but the students are watching him, too- waiting for him to, hopefully, disagree.

The superintendent waves the principal down. He glances along the row at the PTA, who all look… impressed, almost, at the bravery of these students that are speaking and singing.

"You know what," the superintendent says loudly. "I will give you a chance to prove it. Prove to me, to your principal, to the PTA, that the theater really has done good in the community, that the drama department is supported by the people. Then we'll talk about opening it back up. You're very brave, with all of your promises- so carry through with them. If you garner enough support, maybe we can find some limited funding for a Stanton drama department."

The singing fades out as the students beam.

"Thank you," Lilette says, and the audience bursts into applause, those from the directors the loudest of all.

"We stand a chance!" Jolene screams in the parking lot twenty minutes later. "This calls for a celebration! The usual place!"  
"I'm so proud of you all!" Ms. Wolfe yells, for once not caring that her colleagues are all walking to their cars around her. The cast beams.

They're going to get their department back.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "What are you playing?" "The song 'Therapy'... have you heard it?" - "I think we should try this." - "I decided what to do. About the baby." - "I said I didn't need you, and… I was wrong." - "You are unfit to go to church with us! You're a stain on this family, a sin, do you hear me?" - "You feel something?" "I feel a lot of things."**


	6. Episode 6: Therapy

**Would you believe that I wrote fifty pages of fantasy over the weekend… and completely forgot about this until about three hours ago? I do hope it's still good. Fair warning: this is pretty much fluff with minor angst. The high-stakes will they won't they plot is being put on hold so we can fangirl over their relationships. Basically, this is the chapter where ships are sailed. I do hope you enjoy, and I've done all the relationships justice.**

 **Many thanks to two of my friends for singing this song as much as they can to prove they can sing. Also, see if you can spot the random car safety reminders I slipped in throughout the chapter! I don't even know why!**

 **Note: The start of this chapter takes place about a week after the last chapter.**

 **To Guest: Yes indeed, and thank you so much! To Maggie (Guest): As always, thank you so so much for your review and kind words!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

 **Disclaimer 2: "Therapy" is from the musical** _ **Tick, Tick... Boom!**_ **and the lyrics are from Jonathan Larson. I do use the lyrics to "Therapy" in this song. I do not own the lyrics to "Therapy." It's not mine. Just getting that out of the way. (And I recommend listening to it, because I probably didn't do a lot of it justice in writing lmao.)**

 **So, thank you for all sticking with me and this huge ass AN, and please enjoy!**

* * *

Episode 6: Therapy

* * *

Maashous has to literally bite his tongue to keep from cursing his mother. He considers himself a generally nice, reasonable person (Kaitlin uses the term "cinnamon roll"), but this is where he's about to draw the line. It's been at _least_ two weeks since his mom promised to get rid of the drugs, and there has been no change. He's watching her now- on the couch with one of her druggie friends. She'll be high soon enough anyways- she won't notice if he leaves for a few hours, right?  
He texts Kaitlin to make sure she's home. She doesn't respond until he's already driving, and he isn't about to look at his phone while he's driving. High or not, his mom would kill him. Luckily, when he pulls into the Mazzucchelli's driveway, she responded the affirmative. He grins and runs into the house- the Mazzu's made it clear he was welcome any time. Kaitlin is at the piano, he can hear her playing as he takes his shoes off and leaves them by the door.

"What are you playing?" he asks as he approaches. She stops playing, then turns and grins at him, moving over so there's more room on the bench.

"The song 'Therapy,'" she replies, showing him the sheet music. He smiles. _Tick, Tick… Boom!_ is one of his favorites. "Have you heard it?"

"Of course I've heard it," he replies, staring at the piano. He couldn't play to save his life. He's pretty crap at singing, too, but he knows the words by heart.

Kaitlin glances at him mischievously. "Are you saying we can't talk?" she asks, her hands resting on the keys. Maashous grins.

"Are you saying we're not talking?" he replies.

"What are you saying?" she asks.

"What are you saying?" he copies. Then he clears his throat and tries singing, and Kaitlin starts playing at the same time. "I feel bad that you feel bad, about me feeling bad, about you feeling bad, about what I said, about what you said, about me not being able to share a feeling." He holds the last note for a ridiculously long amount of time, just as they do in the original cast recording.

"If I had thought that what you thought, was that I hadn't thought about sharing my thoughts, then my reaction to your reaction, to my reaction, would have been more revealing." Her voice sounds perfect- Stanton _has_ to get the drama department back, just so Kaitlin Mazzucchelli can perform, Maashous thinks.

* * *

Gordy just… drives. And he drives. And he drives. Sure, he kinda wants to get lost, just driving around Stanton in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. He got his car keys back when his parents saw the rehab program was working wonderfully, and now that he's got a more solid group of friends in the theater department that his parents trust, they trust him a lot more.

And he keeps driving, because at this point he's just killing time.

He pulls up in front of the local sub shop. Gwen is waiting outside, and she waves at him as he pulls to a stop. She totes a bag full of sandwiches and chips into the passenger seat behind her and hands him a drink.

"Alright," she says. "Where are we going?"

The car door slams shut and she puts her seatbelt on before Gordy pulls away.

"I was thinking we could head to the beach," he comments.

She glances at him sharply, then relaxes. "Alright," she agrees.

He grins and they spend the rest of the drive in silence. When they arrive at the beach, there aren't many people around, even though it's the middle of a wonderful Saturday afternoon. Gordy pulls a picnic blanket out of his trunk to set up on the beach, and they eat their food in silence for a while, watching the waves lap at the sand. Eventually, they start talking about normal teenager things- laughing and throwing food at each other, gossiping about recent developments at school and complaining about teenagers. Any time the talk turns to the drama department, they backtrack as quickly as possible. Neither of them really wants to think about that. Even though it's been a week and a few days since the PTA meeting, and they've all been gathering as much support as possible, there isn't really a surefire way to _prove_ that the community values the theater program.

It isn't all tossing chip crumbs and avoiding certain conversations, however, because eventually Gwen makes a comment about their relationship and they both go quiet.

"So, Ben Sarajian asked me to go see a movie with him," Gwen says, gesturing with half of a sandwich. Gordy freezes, his own sub halfway to his mouth. He lowers it and sets it down on his plastic plate, swallowing harshly.

"What'd you say?" he asks.

"I turned him down," Gwen says, sounding a bit unsure. "Because of this unspoken thing we kinda have going on, I didn't know-"

"You shouldn't hold yourself back because of me." _And my problems_ , he wants to add, but he leaves that part off. "But… what unspoken thing?"

"Well, if I said anything, it wouldn't be an unspoken thing anymore, would it?" she says, raising an eyebrow, and the two burst into laughter.

"A catch-22," he says, and the two laugh again. "But, really, now that you bring it up… we should talk about this. About us."

"About us?" she asks, nodding. "Yeah. I've thought about it."

"You have?" he asks, more than a bit taken aback. She nods. "I have, too."

She takes a deep breath. "You go first," she blurts out eventually.

"No, no, you first," he says, gesturing for her to go. Their food sits in front of them, forgotten.

She takes another deep breath, then glances around to make sure the few people still on the beach aren't eavesdropping on them. "I think we should try this," she tells him, as soon as she can muster up the courage to speak.

He has to bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying, "Really?" Instead, his eyes just widen a bit, because "trying this" could mean almost anything.

"And by trying this, I mean trying us," Gwen clarifies. "Like, us dating."

Gordy pauses for a moment, thinking about how his coach would probably kill him, how his parents would probably approve, and how he would really, really like it.

"Okay," he says, nodding. "I mean, that's pretty much what I was gonna say, too, so…" He trails off, glancing around. She does the same, as if they hadn't just confessed their feelings.

"Do we kiss now?" she asks him suddenly, turning to him. "I feel like this is the part where we kiss."

"Seems like a safe bet," Gordy says, nodding along, and they both laugh before Gwen leans in first.

* * *

"I was afraid that you'd be afraid, if I told you I was afraid of intimacy," Maashous sings. "If you don't have a problem with my problem, maybe the problem is simply codependency!"

"Yes I know that you now know, that I didn't know that you didn't know, that when I said 'no,' I meant 'yes I know,' and that now I know that you knew, that you knew you adored me!" Kaitlin replies, her playing getting faster as she heaves for breath after singing the whole part in one go. Maashous grins before continuing, and she has to hold back a laugh as he sings.

* * *

Michael is just relaxing at home when he gets a call on his cell phone. He glances down quickly, hoping he can just ignore it- but no, it's Sasha, and he can't ignore her.

"Hello?" he asks carefully, picking up the phone. He's not quite sure what she's going to say, but she sounds a bit… out of breath, almost.

"I decided what to do," she says softly. "About the baby."

"Oh?" he asks, a bit concerned. This is the deciding factor. "And the conclusion you came to…" He waits for her to finish the sentence.

"I'm, um…" she starts, then stops. "I'm gonna try and get an abortion." She's speaking in hardly more than a whisper and he can barely hear her, but he hears the last word and freezes.

"You're sure?" he asks. "I'm not pressuring you into anything?"

"No," Sasha replies. "I talked to Ms. Wolfe. She agrees with you. I haven't told my father yet. I… thank you, Michael."

"Yeah," he says quietly. "I mean… yeah. Okay. Have you planned it out yet?"  
"Ms. Wolfe is going to help," she says. "But not yet… I just came to the official decision today. Really, thank you, Michael, because now I see that I did kinda need to do this. I…" She sounds like she's about to start crying and Michael does _not_ do well around crying people over the phone, so he cuts her off quickly.

"I'm proud of you for coming to a decision like that," he says, trying to hold it together. "And… I'll see you tomorrow? We can go somewhere for food, or something?"

"To celebrate?" she asks, with a slight hiccup on the end. Michael frowns. This doesn't really seem like something you would celebrate.

"No," he says decidedly. "Like… a date."

"Oh," she says softly. "Yeah. I'd like that."

He smiles. "Great," he says.

"I'll pick you up," she replies, and he can almost see her smiling based on the tone of her voice. "But other than that… what do you think? About this?"

"I think it's good," he says, nodding even though she can't see him. "What do you think?"

"I think it's good," she repeats, and he smiles again.

"But maybe-" he starts, then stops, trying to figure out how to properly word the thoughts in his mind. "I don't want to damage our friendship again," he says eventually.

"I don't either." Sasha sounds a bit disappointed, so Michael hastens to continue.

"But I think we should still keep this 'thing' a 'thing,'" he says. "Just maybe a secret thing."

"A secret thing," she echoes, as if trying the term out. "Yeah. That's good."

"That's good?" he questions. He wasn't even sure when he said it himself, even though the words came out of his mouth.

"That's good," Sasha confirms. "We're good."

"We're good," he repeats, quietly, to himself.

* * *

"I was wrong to-" Maashous starts, their singing faster and faster.

"Say you were wrong to-" Kaitlin continues, her fingers rushing to keep up, slipping up now and then.

"Say I was wrong about-"

"You being wrong!"

"When you meant to say that-"

"The ring was the wrong thing to bring-"  
"If I meant what I said when I said rings bore me!"

The two glance at each and grin as they both sing the next line. "I'm not mad that you got mad that I got mad, when you said I should go drop dead!" They hold out the last word for an unnaturally long amount of time, trying to see who can hold it the longest. Kaitlin wins as Maashous pauses, heaving for breath, before he continues with the next line.

"If I were you when I'd done what I'd done, and I'd do what you did when I gave you the ring, having said what I said!"

They both pause for a moment, heaving for breath, preparing for the next part.

* * *

Lilette is _finally_ done with her shift. The last few weeks have been pure hell at work- since the first time her manager started standing a little too close to her, he did it more and more and more, hinting that if she told something or tried to stop him like her mother did, she'd be out of a job faster than she could hit him. And for God's sake, she needs that job.

But today- today she thinks she's going to snap. Because she's hanging up her apron and she's just finished clocking out, considering it's four o'clock and her shift is _finally done_ , and her manager is standing right there.

"Glad to see you're being a good girl and behaving," he grunts, quiet enough that no one else can hear them- not that there's anyone else around. The other waitresses are all outside, busy taking orders, and the cooks can't hear or see them from here.

She purses her lips tightly and offers a forced smile, barely there.

"Come now," he says quietly. "Show me those pretty teeth when you smile."

She grits her teeth together and smiles. She needs the job, she needs the job, she needs the job. She repeats those four words in her head over, and over, and over again, as she's been doing every time she comes in.

"That's better," her manager says. She turns to walk away- she's not going to let him get to her, she needs the job. "You'll make a good wife one day, obedient girl like you." She needs the job, she needs the job- _screw the job_.

"Do you get off on this?" she snarls, turning to face him. "You enjoy mocking me and insulting me like you mocked and assaulted my mother?"  
He looks startled that she would _dare_ talk back to him, but she doesn't care.

"I am sick and tired of you treating me like trash because I'm a woman. I'm not going to take it anymore," she says, backing up toward the door, ready to run. "It's done. I quit. If the rest of your workers have half a brain, they'd quit too!" She's getting louder now, hoping her coworkers hear her, hoping the customers hear her. "You're a disgusting human being for verbally assaulting a minor like this, you're a disgusting human being for sexually assaulting my mother like you did, and I am _done_!"

She relishes the look on his face for merely a moment, then turns and slams the door open, running before the look can turn deadly. She all but sprints a block away- Simon was going to drive her home, but as she checks her phone, he sent her a text saying he couldn't make it and he's sorry. She doesn't care, because she running down the block and she's going straight to Robbie's house.

It takes her a while to get there, and she has the entire time to stew and fume over how horrible her manager is. Only a block from Robbie's house she realizes how close to tears she is about the fact that her manager will face absolutely no repercussions, because there's no proof, and she can't do anything about it. She knows it's not her fault, but if she tells someone, they won't believe her, because of this stupid, screwed-up society-

And then she's pounding on Robbie's front door.

It flies open after a moment. His parents' cars aren't in the driveway, but his is, so she knows it's going to be him when the door swings open. He looks down at her in surprise- clearly, he wasn't expecting to see her today, and definitely not in the state she's in.

"Are you okay?" he asks softly, concerned. "What's-"

The words are spilling out of her mouth before she can stop herself. "I said I didn't need you," she says, watching the look on his face, trying not to cry, "and… I was wrong." She glances around, waiting for him to say something.

Robbie reaches an arm out carefully, pulling her into a hug. She wraps her arms around his back and presses her face against he chest, finally letting herself cry. He whispers sweet nothings into her hair, telling her it's going to be okay, as he closes the door softly behind them.

"You good?" he asks, guiding her to the living room. They sit on the couch, pressed together, and she tells him everything- about her manager, about how she quit, about how if she tells anyone no one will believe her.

"Hey," he says, catching her hands as they gesture wildly in front of her. "I believe you." She turns to look at him questioningly. "Of course I believe you." She opens her mouth to talk, but he cuts her off. "It's gonna be okay, Lilette. I promise."

She nods and sinks into his embrace again as he wraps an arm around her.

Yeah, she thinks. It's gonna be okay.

* * *

Maashous and Kaitlin look at each other, taking a deep breath. This is the part where they sing together, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, voices just kind of overlapping. It's his favorite part of the song, but considering he's never sung it in a duet before, he's not quiet sure how absolutely horrible they're going to be.

"I feel bad, that you feel bad, about me feeling bad, about you feeling bad, about what I said, about what you said, about me not being able to share a feeling!" Maashous sings.

"I feel badly about you, feeling badly about me, feeling badly about you!" Kaitlin belts out at the same time. "If I thought that what you thought, was that I hadn't thought about sharing my thoughts, then my reaction to your reaction to my reaction, would have been more revealing!"

"I thought you're gonna react shallowly, when I reacted to you!" Maashous sings this at the same time as the second part.

"I'm not mad, that you got mad, that I got mad, when you said I should go drop dead!" Kaitlin sings, Maashous jumping in on "I got mad," "You got mad," and "Go drop dead."

"If I were you when I'd done what I'd done-" Maashous starts.

Kaitlin punctuates this with a very high, "If I were you!"

"And I'd do what I did when I gave you the ring-"

"But I'm not you!"  
"Having said what I said!"

"Said what I said!" Kaitlin joins, and they both hold out "said what I said," once again trying to see who will crack first. They stop in unison, breathing heavily, Kaitlin's playing stopped for a moment as they laugh and catch their breath.

* * *

Simon glances around. He was supposed to be picking up Lilette but apologized and said he couldn't, because then it seemed that he was supposed heading to church with his family, but… it doesn't look like that's going to be happening now, either.

All the weekends since the show, his father has had some excuse and hasn't been able to go to church with the family. Simon, Emma, and their mother have gone dutifully every Sunday morning without his father. Now, however, his father says that he's gotten sick of it and wants to go to the five o'clock mass on Saturday night with his family.

Only, Simon doesn't know if his father has disowned him and he just doesn't know it, because as Simon takes a few steps forward to exit the house, his father holds out an arm.

"No," his father says. Simon looks at him questioningly.

"What?" Simon asks. Never has his father prevented him from leaving the house, especially not to go to church.

"I said no," his father repeats. Simon takes a few steps backward as his father rounds on him- his mother and Emma are both already in the car, they can't help him now.

"What-" Simon starts, but his father cuts him off.

"You are unfit to go to church with us!" his father barks, and Simon knows, just _knows_ that this has something to do with the show, something to do with Jeremy, something with the fact that over the past few weeks he's been hanging out with Jeremy more and more. Though he's made no mention of it to his parents, he _definitely_ thinks he's gay, and that's probably what this is about.

"You're a stain on this family!" his father yells, and Simon flinches, taking another few steps backward.

A stain?

"A sin!" his father yells.

A sin?

"Do you hear me?"

Simon gulps, looking toward the ground. He manages to squeak out a quiet, "Yes, sir."

"I said, do you hear me? Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Simon finds the courage to look up at his father, who's panting and red in the face. "Do you hear me?"

"Yes, sir, I hear you," Simon says, louder.

"Good," his father snarls, turning and marching out of the house.

Simon stands in that position for several minutes. His feet don't move, his heart doesn't stop thumping, until the sound of the car engine has long since faded.

He's not one for swearing. But the only thing running through his mind at this moment is that moment at the end of the song where they all stare out at the audience and yell "totally fucked!" Because that's pretty much how he's feeling right now.

The first thing he does is scramble for his cell phone in his pocket. As quickly as possible, he dials Jeremy's number. Jeremy picks up almost immediately.

"Hey," he asks. "You okay?" They never call each other, just in case Simon's parents overhear something.

Simon explains what happened as fast as he can, and from the other end of the phone he can hear Jeremy moving around.

"So… can you come over? Maybe?" Simon asks. He hears the jingling of cars keys and an engine starting.

"I'm already on my way," Jeremy says reassuringly.

They exchange quick goodbyes before Jeremy hangs up and Simon tosses his phone onto the couch. He paces in the living room until he hears the doorbell ring, and then he all but runs to the door to let Jeremy in.

"Hey," he says, grinning, then he realizes that Jeremy has never been to his house before. No one has really been to his house before, except Lilette. "Um, come on in, I guess." Jeremy grins and enters the house, closing the front door softly behind him.

"You doing okay?" Jeremy asks. Simon leads him to the living room.

"Yeah," he says uncertainly. "Yeah, I think I'm good now."

"Good," Jeremy says, smiling, his eyes betraying him. He doesn't quite believe Simon, but Simon doesn't really care. They sit on the couch, feet on the coffee table, and start browsing channels. They're not quite sure what you're supposed to do when you definitely have a "thing" but don't have a "thing" at the same time, and Simon can almost feel the awkwardness rising, so he does the one thing he can think of to do- he grabs his phone and starts blasting _Spring Awakening_. Jeremy grins.

"Perfect," he says, and Simon laughs.

That gets them going, and they do what they always seem to do when they hang out together: sit and talk. The music plays quietly in the background.

The moment that "The Word Of Your Body (Reprise)" comes on, they both freeze and go completely silent, memories rushing back to them.

Simon knows, in that moment, God is giving him a sign.

"I feel something for you," he blurts out, just as Hanschen and Ernst pause in the song to talk, rather than sing.

"You feel something?" Jeremy asks, startled.

"I feel a lot of things," Simon groans, covering his face with his hands. Jeremy laughs.

"But, really," he says quietly. "You're…"

"Yes," Simon says, the words spilling out. "I'm gay. Definitely gay. For you." Oh no. Is that what he's supposed to say? Did he just simultaneously come out to and admit his feeling for Jeremy? Did he really just do that?"

"Well, I'm assuming you already know how I feel on the matter," Jeremy mutters, glancing away, and Simon laughs a bit too loudly to be comfortable.

"Okay," Simon says. "So, we've clarified that I… definitely like you."

"Clarified," Jeremy says, nodding. Simon then notices how close they're sitting to each other. He also notices how blue Jeremy's eyes are. And that he has a little splotch of freckles on his nose when you look closely enough.

And then he doesn't quite know which of them leans in first, but suddenly Jeremy's mouth is on his, or maybe his mouth is on Jeremy's, but Simon is pretty sure that _this right here_ is what Heaven feels like. If his father thinks he's a sin already, well, he's definitely going to now. But does sinning really feel this sweet?

* * *

"But now it's out in the open!" Maashous sings.

"Now it's off our chests!" Kaitlin finishes.

The two glances at each other- the rest of the song they sing together, note for note, Kaitlin's hands flying over the piano keys. "Now it's four AM and we have therapy tomorrow it's too late! to! Screw!" They pause, heaving for breath, and then she's hitting the keys at a rapid pace and they hold out the last line.

"So let's just get some rest!"

They finish together, the notes from the piano fading out. They breathe heavily for a few moments before dissolving into tears of laughter at how _epic_ that was.

Behind them, Gail Mazzucchelli watches her daughter and the boy she wishes was her son finish the song she watched them start, and she _beams_.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "What do you mean, you're packing?!" - "You said she was getting better! You lied to me?" - "So this is it? After everything, you're gonna abandon me to this now?" - "I will** _ **personally**_ **make sure she is cared for." - "So rehab… it's going well?" - "No no no, I wasn't supposed to mention that!" - "The hell is this?** _ **More funding**_ **? You've got to be kidding me!"**


	7. Episode 7: Adults Just Don't Understand

**Wow, I'm so sorry I've been gone so long! I had to make a brief and unexpected intermission, a ton of stuff family-wise and health-wise came up and I couldn't find the time/motivation to work on this. But I'm back now and I hope you're still sticking with me! I couldn't do this without you.**

 **Any apologies if this isn't quite up to the usual standards, it feels a bit lackluster to me but maybe that's just illness speaking lol.**

 **This chapter takes place the morning after the last chapter.**

 **Thank you to all the lovely guests for reviewing, your reviews made me smile!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way, apart from caring too much to be healthy, and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

* * *

Episode 7: Adults Just Don't Understand

* * *

Lilette isn't quite sure what she's expecting when she walks in the door, but it certainly isn't this.

She'd texted her mother and told her about her rough day at work- her mother had, of course, been properly furious, and for some strange reason completely understanding when Lilette said she was going to spend the night at Robbie's. So when Lilette gets home at nearly ten the next morning, she's expecting an interrogation from her mother, or those suggestive eyebrow wiggles, or even just an empty house.

Instead, there's stuff strewn everywhere amongst cardboard boxes.

An interrogation would be _much_ better than this.

Amidst the chaos is her mother, blasting pop tunes from her phone and sorting things out while humming under her breath. Lilette just stands in the doorway, completely in shock, until her mother looks up and notices her. She gives a little "oh!" exclamation before rushing to pause her music and run over to hug her daughter.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she says quietly, but Lilette is still staring in shock.

"What are you doing?" Lilette asks in a low voice. Her mother pulls back, an expression of fake cheer on her face.

"Packing," she answers.

"What do you mean, you're packing?!" Lilette cries, beginning to panic just a bit. Packing means leaving. Leaving means moving to Pittsburgh. Moving to Pittsburgh means _abandoning everyone she loves_.

"I mean, if we're moving we need to pack," her mother says, nodding. "Now neither of us has a job here, which means we have no reason _not_ to move."

Lilette, still standing in the doorway, nearly throws a fit right then and there. But she manages to keep herself composed, draws in a deep breath, and says, "I won't move. I won't leave my friends behind."

"Honey," her mother says. "This will be good for us! We've had this talk a million times already- a fresh start for the Suarez girls!"

"I don't want a fresh start," Lilette all but spits out. "I like this run pretty well as it is!" Sure, her boss was an asshole, her job sucked, and the department was shut down- but she has Robbie and Simon and all her other friends, and they're _getting the department back_.

"Sometimes it's not all about you," her mother says gently. "Sometimes you have to think about what's best for us as a family."

Lilette takes another deep breath and finally steps inside, shutting the door. Her mother smiles, gesturing to the boxes, as if expecting Lilette to suddenly be happy about packing up her life and leaving everything behind.

Lilette just offers a grim smile and shakes her head, pulling out her phone to text Simon. She was just with Robbie, he _just_ dropped her off, so she can't bother him again.

As it turns out, Robbie is in no position to be bothered right now. Currently he's standing across from his father at their kitchen counter, engaged in a furious screaming match.

However, it wasn't about the fact that there was a girl sleeping in his room the whole night (he isn't quite sure his father knows about that yet). In fact, it's about a very different girl. His mother.

Normally, Robbie is the one to get the calls about her health. But for some reason, this time his father did. And that meant his father was the one tasked with breaking the room to Robbie that somehow his mother had ended up in the intensive care unit the moment he got home from dropping Lilette off.

"She's getting worse, Robbie," his father had finished the news with.

Robbie had managed to stand perfectly still for about three seconds before exploding.

"You said she was getting better!" he cries. "You lied to me?"

"I didn't know!" his father yells back. "You think I'm happy about this? You think I want to see her die, see it destroy you like this?"

"So you gave me false hope?" Robbie yells incredulously.

"Any hope is better than nothing at this point!" his father yells. Robbie crosses his arms- this isn't his father's fault, he tells himself over and over again.

"Can I at least go see her?" Robbie asks, his voice pathetically weak.

"Of course," his father says, nodding.

Robbie is almost afraid to go into his mother's room when they get there. He barely makes it through the doorway before noting she's asleep, and though he's never had any qualms about seeing her before, he lasts maybe ten seconds before turning around, trying to choke back the tears.

A nurse stops him and he finds himself asking what happened, but he isn't really listening to what the nurse is saying. Something about not breathing right and just wanting to make sure she was okay, something with her respiratory system and movement and Robbie isn't _really_ listening but it's still better than nothing to know what's going wrong.

Then the nurse brushes past him to get into the room to check on some things, and Robbie just walks down to where his father is waiting. They get to the car in silence and they drive home in silence, too, and Robbie can't properly appreciate the quiet of it all like he normally does because his mind is racing and his mother might not make it and this might be _it_ this time, for real, no going back, no going better. But it's "too soon to know for sure" and they "can't be positive where this will take her," he was listening to that much.

His father doesn't even bother to ask how she is, because he probably already knows. He doesn't bother to ask how Robbie's doing, either, though that's probably for the best and it's probably already clear by the look on his face already.

He can't do this. He can't just watch her get better and then suddenly get worse again. Things were changing.

Well, he supposes, they're still changing. Only not necessarily for the better.

Things are changing in many households across Stanton. Simon, for one, is taking complete advantage of the fact that his father isn't home by sitting in the living room and not fearing for his life.

His mother is home, however, and he's having a bit of an internal conflict over whether he should tell her about the day before or not. On one hand, she's his mother and he's supposed to be able to tell her everything, but on the other hand, he'd really like to keep it a secret considering the fact that his father literally called him a "stain on the family." His conflict is quenched when his mother walks past where he's seated on his phone and he blurts it out.

"Jeremy and I are a thing now."

She freezes, then takes a few steps back so she's looking him in the eye.

"A… thing?" she asks, her lip quivering.

Simon's eyes widen. He just said that. He really just said that.

"I'm gay," he says, nodding, his eyes still wide. He swallows hard. "Um. I don't know where to go from there."

"Oh, honey," his mother says, and suddenly she's crying, but she's also hugging him, so he's not really sure what she's feeling. Come to think of it, he's not really sure what _he's_ feeling. So instead he just sits there and lets her get her tears out.

"Did you know?" he asks quietly, after a while. She thinks for a moment, then nods.

"A mother always knows," she says, smiling sadly at him, and suddenly Simon panics as he remembers the other parent of the household.

"Don't tell Dad," he says suddenly. "Please- you can't- he'll- he'll kick me out-" It's uncharacteristic of him, this panic, but he doesn't care because he just needs her to promise him that his father will never know. Then his mother's tears are gone and she looks doubtful, guilty. His heart sinks.

"He's my husband," she tells him. "I should be telling him everything."

"Please, Mom, you can't," he says, and his voice breaks. "You can't- you know what he's like, you know what he'll do-"

She holds up a hand, and his stops with a sharp intake of breath. "I'll think about it, honey," she says. Amid the fear in his gut, there's also a bit of anger now- because she _knows_ exactly what will happen.

"Alright," he says, his voice hardening, because that's better than nothing. "And- did you give any thought to what I said about the theater department?" The topic is changed, now, they are _not_ going back to his queerness, and hopefully they never will again.

"I did," she says. "And… I don't think there's anything I can do to help you, honey. Your father would stop anything I tried to start, so other than coming to your shows, there's nothing I can do."

"But we don't have any shows," he says, frowning, and he realizes that his mother will be no help with their efforts to get their drama department back. Or at least, not while his father is in the way. Dang it.

"I'm sorry, honey," she says. "But even if your father would approve something… what more could I do?"

"So this is it?" he asks, turning to her on the couch. "After everything, you're gonna abandon me to this now? Not do anything to help because of Dad, leave me to face his wrath alone because you can't keep secrets from him, you can't do anything without his permission first?" He scoffs at the very idea, but internally, because he knows there's nothing his mother can do about it.

"I wish I could do something else," she says, and he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He's saved at that moment by a _ping_ from his phone- Lilette, asking if he could come pick her up. Great- an excuse to leave.

"I have to go get Lilette," Simon says quietly. "Thank you for being accepting, Mom." He gets up and walks for the door, glancing back as he closes it- her hand is raised in a half-wave, and she looks sad, almost.

He closes the door and gets in the car, trying to keep himself from slamming his head on the steering wheel. He'll get Lilette and they'll complain about their parents together and- shit, he's going to have to come out to Lilette.

No, he doesn't need to _worry_ about coming out to Lilette. Because she's his best friend and he _knows_ that she's accepting and they stick with each other no matter what. No matter what means driving to her house at ten in the morning and driving them to a parking lot nobody's in so she can rant about her mother and the leaving that's not happening. No matter what means that then she can gush about Robbie, and that when she finally finishes and he's given her the best advice that he possibly can and when she asks how he is, he just lets it spill, and she's there for him. _That's_ what no matter what means.

No matter what is this little family he's found in the drama department, so they're going to get it back. No matter what.

 _No matter what_ is exactly what Michael is thinking as he faces off with Sasha's father, because Sasha's father disapproves of her abortion.

Michael is sitting at their tiny kitchen table while the two argue in the living room, ready to intervene if necessary. Her father just doesn't see the point in it all, the costs, and Michael is having to butt in every few minutes to remind him that caring for a kid is a lot more expensive than an abortion.

"My parents said they'll help with everything," Michael insists. "You just need to… sign off on a few papers."

"Ms. Wolfe said that she'd help, too," Sasha says, nodding. "And I can get enough money to pay for it, Dad, you don't need to worry about it- I can get Ms. Wolfe on the phone right now," she adds, seeing the look on his face, that he doesn't believe her.

Approximately two minutes and exactly three dials later, Sasha's father is on her phone, talking with Ms. Wolfe. Sasha grips Michael's hand, leaning on the table next to him. They can't hear much of the conversation as her father paces the trailer, but as he walks past them, they hear Ms. Wolfe's voice.

"I will _personally_ make sure that she is cared for," Ms. Wolfe is saying. When he hangs up, Sasha's father finally looks satisfied. Michael grins at Sasha and squeezes her hand.

"Ah… alright," he says eventually with a heavy scowl. "I'll sign the papers. Just… whatever makes you happy, kid." Sasha beams. "And as long as this Tracey woman sticks with you."

"She will, Dad," Sasha says, nodding. "She will."

Sasha isn't the only one having good fortune with her father. Gordy was stopped just as he was exiting his room by his father, who gestures for him to go back inside. Gordy wonders briefly just what he's up to, but decides it's best to just go along with it. He was only going for a soda, anyways- the soda will still be in the refrigerator when he goes for it.

"So, Gordy," his father starts. _Oh, no. That's the I-need-to-talk-to-you voice._ "I wanted to ask… the rehabilitation program. How's it going?"

"It's going good, Dad," Gordy says, and he's even being honest about it. He knows the recovery process is long and hard, and that he hasn't been driven to relapse yet and it's only inevitable, but for now he feels like he's going strong, especially with the help of those around him. He tells his father this, word for word.

"Those around you?"

"You guys," Gordy says, nodding. "And, uh, the football team. My friends at school. The other theater kids." It would have pained him once upon a time to admit he was now good friends with the "theater kids," but now he feels a sense of pride upon being accepted into their little family. Drama is, from what he's noticed, practically a cult.

"That's good, that's good," his father says, nodding. "So rehab… it's going well? The program, I mean?"

"Yes," Gordy says, nodding quickly. "Yeah, it's going really well. It's helping a lot."

His father smiles, wide, unforced. "I'm glad to hear it," he says. A pause, then, "Maashous is coming for dinner, just so you know."

"Great," Gordy says, grinning, and his father smiles and leaves the room. Already this rehabilitation program has transformed his son, and honestly, he isn't complaining.

Gordy makes absolutely _no_ mention of Gwen.

Maashous arrives about an hour later. They're having lasagna that Sadie and Mrs. Mazzucchelli made together, and it's _delicious_. They talk about anything and everything, both girls rambling about school and gossip that they think the high school boys should know about, or at least could laugh at. Then the other three talk musicals for a while, and Gordy is pleased that he knows a little bit more about them now and can jump into the conversation.

As they're finishing their meal, Mrs. Mazzucchelli asks Maashous how living with his mother is.

"It's, ah, it's alright," Maashous says after nearly choking on his milk. "It's going fine, yeah." Gordy knows the air of someone with a big secret, and that's _definitely_ it. Maashous begins fidgeting with his napkin and Gordy tries signaling with his eyes for his mother to continue pressing.

"Different from here?" she asks kindly, getting the hint (not that Gordy is subtle about it).

"Yeah," Maashous says, laughing, though it's forced. "A lot different."

"How?" Mr. Mazzucchelli asks, picking up on Gordy's cues. Sadie and Kaitlin glance at each other- suddenly this seems very much like an interrogation.

"A lot smaller. Emptier. Less full of life. More drugs," Maashous says very quickly, and then his eyes widen as he realizes the last bit of what he said. "No no no, I wasn't supposed to mention that!" he says quickly, seeing the looks on their faces. "Please, you can't tell anyone, I can't have her go to prison again, it won't help her-"

"Maashous," Mrs. Mazzucchelli says slowly, carefully. "We won't tell anyone. But is your mother doing drugs again?"

Maashous glances around. His eyes land on Kaitlin, then dart back to Mrs. Mazzucchelli quickly, and he nods. The two adults at the table look at each other, having a silent conversation, and the kids all look down at the table or their laps.

"Well, let us know if there's anything we can do to help," Mr. Mazzucchelli says, clearing his throat.

Meanwhile, another family dinner also turned very awkward. Though Gwen could hardly call it a dinner, considering it's microwaved macaroni and cheese, and her father got up to take a phone call halfway through. She's definitely eavesdropping and she doesn't really care. The apartment is beginning to look a bit more like home after she used her eye to help with the decorating, to spruce the place up a bit. But she still isn't completely swung on the idea of _half the time_ , especially eavesdropping on this phone call.

"Great, we can use the funds to update some of the equipment, maybe more consistent washing of the jerseys," she hears her father says. "Yeah, I'll talk to you later."

She hears him hang up the phone and goes back to her macaroni quickly, pretending she wasn't listening. He knows she was.

"Update some equipment?" she asks as her father sits down.

"The football program was granted another five thousand," her father says, looking at the table, his food, the wall, anywhere _but_ her. He's refusing to look at her.

"The hell is this?" she cries, standing up. " _More funding_? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Gwen-" he starts, but she holds up a finger.

"Yeah, I'm being childish," she says. "But five thousand dollars when the lighting system in the theater breaks every other week? Five thousand, like it's nothing?"

"Gwen-"

"No," she says sitting back down and grabbing her fork again. "It's fine. It's… it's fine." He looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn't.

Under the table, Gwen sends a quick text to the big cast and crew group chat.

 _ **Next weekend. Usual place.**_

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "I'm sorry. I can't go in there." - "There's just… nothing we can do, apart from putting on a show, and we need the theater and a program to do that." - "Looks like you kids could use something like this, right?" - "I swear to God, if you come near me or ever speak to me again I** _ **will**_ **call the police on you."**


	8. Episode 8: The Petition (Reprise)

**Thank you all so much for your continued support, you all mean the world to me!**

 **Just a side note, I'm going on vacation and I don't know if I'll be able to have next week's chapter out in time. But we will get there eventually, I'm not giving up on this, and I'm very sorry for all the breaks. Thank you all for sticking with me!**

 **This chapter takes place when the cast is meeting, the weekend after the last chapter. It is a bit of a filler chapter because I didn't have a ton planned for it anyways, but the final two chapters will definitely be much longer.**

 **Thank you to all the lovely guests for reviewing, your reviews made me smile!**

 **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Rise or Spring Awakening in any way and am not making any profit off of this (apart from any love you decide to show!)**

* * *

Episode 8: The Petition (Reprise)

* * *

Simon picks Lilette up at noon to head to the diner. She told him everything about her resignation, but that doesn't mean she's told everyone else.

"You're sure you want to do this?" he asks the second she gets in the car. "We can find a different place to meet."  
"No," Lilette replies. "I need to face my demons."

"And you're sure you don't mind us giving him business like this?" Simon asks. The car is started, but he isn't driving.

"It's fine, Simon, let's just go," Lilette says. Her friends will all be there, and that will make it okay. Simon glances over once more, just to make sure she's certain, before he starts driving. They ride to the diner in silence, and Lilette is unsurprised to see that pretty much everyone is already there. They're gathered outside, waiting for something, and Simon frowns in confusion. Lilette narrows her eyes, trying to figure out what they're waiting for. She and Simon get out of the car and the group flocks toward them, and it's only when she sees Robbie at the back looking guilty that Lilette understands.

"Robbie said something happened," Jolene says first, wrapping an arm around Lilette.

"Is everything okay?" Annabelle asks.

Lilette looks at the door to the diner- and in that moment, she absolutely does not want to face her former boss.

"I'm sorry," she says, her eyes widening. "I can't go in there."

"We can go somewhere else!" Simon says insistently. "Really, we're all here, we can just pick somewhere else-"  
"No," Lilette says. "I need to- to face my demons, or whatever-"  
"If you want to share, Lilette, what happened?" Michael asks softly.

"I quit," Lilette chokes out. "My boss was being a total ass and I… I snapped at him and I quit."  
"We'll go in only if you want to go in," Robbie says after the sympathetic words from the rest of the group have gone quiet. "And only when you're ready."

"Okay," Lilette says, taking a deep breath. "We can… we can go in."  
The group cheers as they usher her inside, in the middle of the group. Lilette can see her manager looking over in disgust, and she holds her head high. He can't do anything to her here, and it's not like he's about to kick them out- they're a huge group. He can't deny that kind of money. Lilette almost feels bad, giving money to this man- but then again, maybe she'll just be the bigger person and show him that he can't affect her any more.

They place their orders quickly, and their waitress gives Lilette an encouraging smile. As soon as she leaves, however, the talk turns to business.

"What are we going to do about this theater problem?" Gwen asks, from where she's seated next to Gordy. "We need support, guys, how are we going to get it?"  
"There's just…" Maashous starts, then trails off. "Nothing we can do, apart from putty on a show, and we need a theater and a program to do that."

"He's right," Jeremy says. "I mean, we've all talked to our family and friends about it, right? But we don't have any way to prove that they care about the drama department other than selling tickets to shows."

"And like Maashous said, we can't put on shows because we have no drama department," Gwen says angrily. "It's a catch-22."

"So what do we do?" Robbie asks.

"We'll have to figure that out," Simon says decidedly. "It's been awhile since we were all together. How's everyone doing?"

This begins a conversation lasting nearly an hour as the food comes and goes. Everyone starts listing happenings in their lives, and the group gives advice and comfort to the rest of their ability. They get especially emotional when Robbie starts talking about his mother and try and offer the best support as possible. Lilette grips Robbie's hand where it's resting on the top of the table.

Sasha announces her decision to get an abortion- quietly, so no one else in the diner can hear her- and everyone is very supportive, wishing her well. Next to her, Michael is beaming. Someone asks Maashous how his mother is doing and he deflects the question immediately- Gordy steps in and changes the topic hastily, and if anyone notices, no one says anything. He answers their questions about his rehab program, and next to him, Gwen squeezes his hand from under the table.

Simon is asked how the situation with his father is going, to which he just replies that it's not going well. This gains sympathy as they try and help discuss possible solutions- but Jeremy is holding his hand under the table, so Simon thinks that it might, eventually, be all right.

Lilette tries to avoid talking about her problems because she isn't quite sure how to properly word how she's feeling about the possibility of her moving that's beginning to seem more and more real. As a result of that, she makes sure that once everyone has had a turn sharing their problems and giving advice, she steers clear of her own life.

Once they're done discussing their problems, the chatter turns humorous as they get into a more light-hearted sign of things, their situation with the department on the back of their minds the whole time. They just can't seem to think of anything, even as they burst into laughter as they share the funniest stories they can to try and lighten the previously serious mood.

Eventually, however, they begin to fizzle out and descend back into the "what-can-we-do" mindset. They start brainstorming possibilities- the most popular one is putting on a show on their own and performing it somewhere local, like a park. But then the issue rises of costumes and sets and props and, most of all, money. The money conversation spawns off a different brainstorming session entirely- bake sales, car washes, and other fundraising events to support a show they're not sure they would be able to charge for tickets at. It just becomes a giant loop of ideas that doesn't really lead to anywhere.

After nearly another hour of trying to come up with some possible solution, they realize that there's been someone eavesdropping on them for nearly ten minutes. Simon twists around hastily as he realizes his mother has been sitting at the table behind them listening.

"Mom," he says quickly, his ears going red. "What are- what are you doing here?"  
"Well," Mrs. Saunders says. "It looks like you kids could use something like this, right?" She hands Simon her phone, something that looks like a list already pulled up. Lilette and Jeremy read over his shoulder on either side of him, and the rest of the group watches as the blood drains from their faces, their mouths drop agape, and their eyes widen.

"You did all this?" Simon asks his mother in shock.

"What is it?" Gwen asks.

"It's a petition," Jeremy says, breaking into a grin. "A petition to reopen the drama department."  
"I organized it," Simon's mother says, smiling sheepishly. "I figured you kids could use it, and I… well, I sent it to your directors, and they must have spread it to your parents. It's been going around for a few days now."  
"How did we not hear about this?" Sasha asks.

"I don't know," Gwen says as Simon hands her the phone and she looks over it. "This is… there has to be at least three hundred signatures on this already."  
"I guess people have been spreading the word," Mrs. Saunders says. "I'll send the link to Simon and he can forward it to all of you? And you can continue passing it around. I'm not sure how much it will do…"

"It's amazing," Simon says, standing up. "I can't believe we didn't think of this, Mom, thank you-" He turns around and hugs his mother tight, and the rest of the group bursts into applause. The rest of the patrons in the diner glance in their direction, but probably decide it's best that they just ignore the high schoolers and get on with their meals.

"I'll just head out, then," Mrs. Saunders says eventually, and she departs with a loud chorus of thanks from everyone seated at their table. Simon immediately sends the link to the group chat, and the next ten minutes are spent forwarding it to everyone that they know while chattering excitedly that they might finally have some hope now.

"We can do it, guys," Gwen says confidently. "We can definitely do it."

It's at that point that they begin leaving, going in the little groups they arrive in. Robbie is taking Lilette home, and after they say goodbye to Simon and Jeremy, after Gwen and Gordy finish paying their checks and heading out, the two of them are the last two in the diner.

"Hang on, I wanna grab one last milkshake," Robbie says, and Lilette giggles as he grabs her hand and tugs her toward the counter. Both of their smiles fade as they see her former manager approach around the corner.

"Why are you back here, you filthy little slut? Thinking you can get away talking to me like that?" he snarls.

Robbie opens his mouth immediately, trying to get up in the man's face over the counter, but Lilette's face is set in stone as she tugs him back.

"The hell did you just say to her?" Robbie demands, puffing his chest out to look more intimidating. The man narrows his eyes and makes a move as if he's about to come around the counter.

"I got this," Lilette mutters to him, glaring at her former manager. "You have absolutely no right to be talking to me, to be near me, to even look at me. I'm going to continue coming to this diner with my friends because it's something I enjoy. But I swear to God, if you come near me or ever speak to me again I _will_ call the police on you."  
"With what?" the man snarls. "You have nothing."

"I have a video recording of our conversation the night I resigned," Lilette retorts. "On my phone. I can play it for the entire diner right now, if you want."

"You little bitch-" the man starts. Robbie takes a step forward, but Lilette holds up her phone and both of them freeze.

"Video evidence," Lilette says. "I assumed something was going to happen and I took the necessary precautions. I have _video evidence_ of you verbally assaulting a minor, and I'm sure my mother would testify to you sexually assaulting her."

Her former manager finally, finally backs down.

"Never. Come near me. Again," Lilette reiterates, and finally, finally, he disappears in the back. "That milkshake?" she says to Robbie, her voice sugar sweet.

"I love you," Robbie says, wrapping an arm around her waist with the biggest grin on his face. "You're so damn _powerful_ , Lilette, and I'm so lucky to-"  
"Just buy your milkshake, Throne," Lilette says with a laugh.

He does, and they leave a few moments later. Someone lowers a menu held in front of their face to the table as they leave. She doesn't need the menu, of course she doesn't, she still knows it by heart. But Vanessa Suarez certainly has never seen her little girl in action around her friends, her boyfriend, her _family_ like that.

And she doesn't know how she could ever tear her daughter away from this wonderful thing she has.

* * *

 **Next time, on Rise Again: "I think… I think you should give rehab a try." - "Please, I just… I don't want to go." - "You're tearing this family apart!" "No,** _ **you're**_ **the one who started doing just that!" - "Hey, hey, are you okay?" "Are we alone?" - "Yes, it's all going very well, but… who would get the position?" - "I just want you to be happy." "What are you saying?" - "We closed down the program for a petition with half this support." "And that means?"**


End file.
